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THE    COUNTRY    BOY 


Why  does  he  want  to  leave  his 
father's  farm  to  go  to  the  city?  He 
ought  to  be  able  to  find  his  highest 
happiness  and  usefulness  in  the 
country,  his  native  environment, 
where  he  is  sadly  needed.  Can  we 
make  it  worth  while  for  this  boy  to 
•  nvest   his   life   in    rural    leadership? 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF 
THE  COUNTRY 

A  Study  of  Country  Life  Opportunity 


GEORGE  WALTER  FISKE 

JUNIOR    DEAN,    OBERLIN    THEOLOGICAL    SEMiNARlT 
OBERLIN,   OHIO 


NEW  YORK:        124  East  28th  Street 

LONDON:  47  Paternoster  Row,  E.  C. 

1916 


COVTBIOMTi  I9I»|BT 

THI  INTERNATIONAL  COMMITTEI  OV 
rOUNO  MKM'S  CHRISTIAN  AStOCIATIONI 


1. 1  2  S 


'W 


TO  THE  COLLEGE  MEN  AND  WOMEN 

WHO  LOVE  COUNTRY  LIFE 

BMOUGH  TO  RESIST  THE  LURE  OF  THE  CITT 

AND  INVEST  THEIR  TALENTS  IN 

RURAL  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 

WE  OFFER  THIS 

CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


PREFACE 

This  study  of  country  life  opportunity  and  analysis 
of  various  phases  of  the  rural  problems  in  America 
has  been  written  at  the  request  of  the  International 
Committee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations, 
particularly  for  their  County  Work  and  Student  de- 
partments. The  former  desired  a  handbook  for  the 
training  of  leaders  in  rural  Christian  work  and  the 
latter  a  textbook  for  the  use  of  college  students  in 
Christian  Associations  wishing  to  study  the  funda- 
mentals of  rural  social  service  and  rural  progress.  It 
is  the  sincere  hope  of  those  who  have  asked  for  this 
book  that  it  may  bring  to  very  many  earnest  young 
men  and  women,  and  especially  in  the  colleges  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  a  challenging  vision  of  the 
need  of  trained  leadership  in  every  phase  of  rural  life, 
as  well  as  a  real  opportunity  for  life  investment. 

Being  the  first  book  in  the  field  which  makes  avail- 
able the  results  of  the  Thirteenth  U.  S.  Census,  it  is 
hoped  that  its  fresh  treatment  of  the  latest  aspects  of 
the  rural  problems  will  commend  itself  to  general 
readers  who  are  interested  in  the  Rural  Life  Move- 
ment and  the  welfare  of  the  rural  three-fifths  of 
America. 

The  author  acknowledges  with  thanks  the  courtesy 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions,  the  Mac- 
millan  Company  and  Rural  Manhood,  in  granting  the 
use  of  the  cuts  appearing  in  this  volume. 

y 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 
INTRODUCTION xi 

Country  Life  Opportunity. 

Chapter  I. 

THE  RURAL  PROBLEM i 

Its  Development  and  Present  Urgency. 

Chapter  II. 

COUNTRY  LIFE  OPTIMISM .    33 

Rural  Resources  and  the  Country  Life  Movement. 

Chapter  III. 

'the  new  RURAL  CIVILIZATION 63 

Factors  that  Are  Making  a  New  World  in  the  Country. 

Chapter  IV. 

TRIUMPHS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE     .     .    91 
The  Oldest  of  the  Arts  Becomes  a  New  Profession. 

Chapter  V. 

RURAL  OPPORTUNITIES  FOR   SOCIAL  RECON- 
STRUCTION    117 

Country  Life  Deficiencies  and  the  New  Cooperation. 

Chapter  VI. 

EDUCATION  FOR  COUNTRY  LIFE 151 

How  Efficient  Rural  Citizenship  Is  Developed. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  VII. 

RURAL    CHRISTIAN    FORCES 173 

The  Community-Serving  Church  and  Its  Allies. 

Chapter  VIII. 

COUNTRY  LIFE  LEADERSHIP 225 

A  Challenge  to  College  Men  and  Women. 

APPENDIX 269 

INDEX 277 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The    Country   Boy 

Rural  Schools  in  Daviess  County,  Ind.  . 

An    Abandoned     Church 

Rural  Redirection 

School  Garden  Work  at  Guelph,  Canada 
Plan    of    Macdonald    Consolidated    School 

Grounds     .  

A  Modem  Fruit  and  Truck  Farm  . 
Pennsylvania  Farm  Land 
Cooperation  on  the  Playground  .  . 
Types  of  Consolidated  Schools  . 
Vocational  Training  in  Rural  Schools 
An  Over-Churched  Community  .  . 
Presbyterian  Church,  Winchester,  III. 


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INTRODUCTION 

COUNTRY  LIFE  OPPORTUNITY 

The  glare  of  the  city  dazzles  the  eyes  of  many  a 
man  in  college.  For  a  generation  college  debates,  in 
class,  club  and  fraternity,  have  popularized  all  phases 
of  the  city  problem,  the  very  difficulties  of  which  have 
challenged  many  a  country-bred  boy  to  throw  in  his 
life  where  the  maelstrom  was  the  swiftest. 

In  recent  years  however  the  country  problem  has 
been  claiming  its  share  of  attention.  It  has  grown 
to  the  dignity  of  a  national  issue.  The  great  Rural 
Life  Movement,  starting  from  the  Agricultural  Col- 
leges, has  enlisted  the  intelligent  cooperation  of  far- 
visioned  men  in  many  professions.  Thinking  people 
see  clearly  that  in  spite  of  the  growth  of  cities,  the 
nation  is  still  rural.  Agriculture  is  still  the  main 
business  of  our  people.  The  nation's  prosperity  still 
depends  upon  "  bumper  crops."  The  nation's  char- 
acter still  depends  upon  country  conscience.  Not  only 
is  it  true  that  most  of  our  leaders  in  politics,  in  the 
pulpit,  in  all  professions  and  in  the  great  industries 
were  born  and  bred  in  the  country;  the  city  is  still 
looking  to  the  country  to  develop  in  large  degree  the 
leadership  of  the  future. 

Were  it  not  for  the  immigration  tides  and  the  con- 
tinuous supply  of  fresh  young  life  from  the  country. 


INTRODUCTION 

the  city  would  be  unable  to  maintain  itself ;  it  would  be 
crushed  beneath  its  burdens.  For  the  city  is  the 
"  Graveyard  of  the  national  physique."  With  its 
moral  and  industrial  overstrain,  it  is  the  burial  place  of 
health,  as  well  as  youthful  ambitions  and  hopes,  for 
many  a  young  person  not  accustomed  to  its  high-geared 
life.  The  nervous  system  rebels  against  the  city  pace. 
In  an  incognito  life  the  character  crumbles  under  the 
subtle  disintegration  of  city  temptations.  The  young 
man  with  exceptional  ability  finds  his  way  to  high  suc- 
cess in  the  city ;  the  average  man  trudges  on  in  medi- 
ocrity, lost  in  the  crowd  —  just  a  "  high  private  in  the 
tea.T  rank,"  when  he  might  have  stayed  in  the  country 
home  and  won  a  measure  of  real  influence  and  sub- 
stantial happiness  in  his  natural  environment. 
'  Not  only  has  the  lure  of  the  city  drawn  thousands 
of  young  people  who  were  better  off  in  their  country 
homes,  the  real  claims  of  the  country  village  upon 
those  young  people  have  but  timidly  been  uttered.  Not 
only  has  the  call  of  the  city  been  magnified  by  artificial 
echoes,  the  call  of  the  open  country  has  scarcely  been 
sounded  at  all.  The  opportunity  of  the  city  as  a 
life  arena  has  been  advertised  beyond  all  reason.  It 
is  time  to  talk  of  the  life  chance  for  stalwart  young 
Americans  to  stay  right  in  the  country  and  realize  their 
high  privileges. 

One  per  cent  of  our  young  manhood  and  woman- 
hood is  found  in  college  halls.  They  are  in  many 
respects  the  chosen  youth  of  the  land.  A  few  are  sent 
there  by  indulgent  parents,  but  the  great  majority  are 
there  mainly  because  of  personal  ambition,  the  urge 
of  a  mighty  impulse  to  make  their  lives  count,  and  to 


INTRODUCTION 

get  the  best  preparation  for  the  work  of  life,  wherever 
their  lot  may  be  cast.  Yet  selfishness  is  not  the  main 
element  in  this  ambition.  The  truest  idealists,  the 
finest  altruists  are  right  here  among  these  eager  col- 
lege students.  In  their  four  years  of  liberal  training 
they  are  often  reminded  that  the  real  motive  of  it  all 
is  "  Education  for  power  and  power  for  service." 

The  subtle  sarcasm  "You  may  lead  a  boy  to  col- 
lege but  you  cannot  make  him  think  "  is  quite  needless 
in  most  cases.  It  would  be  truer  to  say  you  cannot 
stop  his  thinking.  Increasingly,  in  the  later  years  of 
college  life,  the  thinking  takes  the  direction  of  life 
planning,  the  discussion  of  a  real  life-mission.  Not 
only  in  the  so-called  Christian  colleges,  but  even  in 
the  State  universities,  which  are  fast  becoming 
centers  of  real  religious  life  and  power,  the 
best  men  and  women  are  now  planning  their  future 
according  to  what  they  believe  to  be  the  will 
of  God  for  them.  Many  have  caught  the  vision  of 
the  possibility  of  genuine  consecration  in  any  honor- 
able life  calling,  making  it  a  life  of  genuine  service, 
which  after  all  is  life's  greatest  opportunity.  For 
such  young  men  and  women  the  question  simply  is: 
What  shall  this  service  be  and  where  shall  it  be 
rendered  ? 

The  same  problem  of  life  investment  is  confronting 
the  young  men  and  women  who  are  not  in  the  colleges. 
Idealism  is  not  at  all  confined  to  college  halls. 
Wherever  this  book  may  find  young  men  and  women 
weighing  seriously  their  great  life  question,  may  it  help 
them  to  see  the  real  opportunity  oflFered  them  in  the 
roomy  fields  of  rural  life  and  leadership. 

xiii 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  RURAL  PROBLEM 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Rural  Problem 

I.     The  Problem  Stated  and  Defined 

Definition  and  analysis. 

A  classification  of  urban  and  rural  communities. 

II.    City  and  Country 

How  the  growing  city  developed  the  problem. 
The  surprising  growth  of  rural  America. 
A  false  and  misleading  comparison. 

III.  Rural  Depletion  and  Rural  Degeneracy 

The  present  extent  of  rural  depletion. 

Losses  in  country  towns. 

The  need  of  qualitative  analysis  of  the  census. 

The  question  of  degeneracy  in  city  and  country. 

Stages  and  symptoms  of  rural  decadence. 

The  Nam's   Hollow  case. 

A  note  of  warning. 

IV.  The  Urgency  of  ihe  Problem 

A  hunt  for  fundamental  causes. 
The  unfortunate  urbanizing  of  rural  life- 
Why  country  boys  and  girls  leave  the  farm. 
The  folly  of  exploiting  the  country  boy. 
The  city's  dependence  on  the  country. 

V.    A  Challenge  to  Faith 


The  Challenge  of  the  Country 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  RURAL  PROBLEM 

ITS  DEVELOPMENT  AND   PRESENT   URGENCY 

I.    The  Problem  Stated  and  Defined. 

Early  in  the  year  1912,  some  five  hundred  leading 
business  and  professional  men  of  the  cities  of  New 
York  state  met  at  a  banquet,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  During  the 
evening  it  was  discovered  that  nine-tenths  of  these 
influential  city  leaders  had  come  from  country  homes. 
They  were  born  on  farms  in  the  open  country  or  in 
rural  villages  of  2,500  population  or  less. 

Facts  like  these  no  longer  surprise  intelligent  people. 
They  are  common  to  most  cities,  at  least  on  our  Amer- 
ican continent ;  and  herein  is  the  crux  of  the  rural  prob- 
lem. At  great  sacrifice  for  a  century  the  country  has 
been  making  the  city.  Doubtless  thousands  of  incompe- 
tent citizens  have  been  forced  off  the  farms  by  the  de- 
velopment of  farm  machinery ;  and  the  country  was  lit- 
tle poorer  for  their  loss.  But  in  surrendering  to  the 
city  countless  farm  boys  of  character  and  promise  who 
have  since  become  the  city's  leaders,  many  a  rural 
village  has  suffered  irreparably.  To  be  sure  this  seems 
to  be  one  of  the  village's  main  functions,  to  furnish 
leaders  for  the  city ;  and  it  has  usually  been  proud  of  its 


2  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

opportunity.  It  is  the  wholesale  character  of  this  gen« 
erous  community  sacrifice  which  has  developed  trouble. 

The  rural  problem  is  the  problem  of  maintaining  in 
our  farm  and  village  communities  a  Christian  civiliza- 
tion with  modern  American  ideals  of  happiness,  effi- 
ciency and  progress. 

It  is  a  problem  of  industrial  efficiency,  of  economic 
progress,  of  social  cooperation  and  recreation,  of  home 
comfort,  of  educational  equipment  for  rural  life,  of 
personal  happiness,  of  religious  vitality  and  of  institu- 
tional development  for  community  service.  Though 
the  problem  would  exist  independently  of  the  city,  its 
acuteness  is  due  to  city  competition. 

The  fact  that  city  leadership  is  still  largely  drawn 
from  the  country  makes  the  rural  problem  of  vital  im- 
portance to  the  welfare  of  the  city  and  in  a  real  sense 
a  national  issue. 

A  Classification  of  Communities 

The  terms  rural  and  urban,  country  and  city,  town, 
village  and  township  are  so  variously  used  they  cause 
much  ambiguity.  The  last  is  primarily  geographical 
rather  than  social.  The  word  town  means  township 
in  New  England  and  nothing  in  particular  anywhere 
else.  The  others  are  relative  terms  used  differently 
by  different  people.  For  years  the  line  between  rural 
\  and  urban  was  arbitrarily  set  at  the  8,000  mark,  but 
\  the  "thirteenth  census  has  placed  it  at  2,500.  It  seems 
petty  however  to  dub  a  village  of  2,501  people  a  city! 
This  is  convenient  but  very  inaccurate.  There  are  38 
"  towns "  in  Massachusetts  alone  having  over  8,000 
people  which  refuse  to  be  called  cities. 


THE  RURAL   PROBLEM  3 

Cities  of  the  first  class  have  a  population  of  100,000 
upwards ;  cities  of  the  second  class  number  from  25,000 
to  100,000  people ;  and  communities  from  8,000  to  25,- 
000  may  well  be  styled  small  cities.  The  term  vil- 
lage is  naturally  applied  to  a  community  of  2,500  or 
less.  When  located  in  the  country  it  is  a  country 
village;  when  near  a  city  it  is  a  suburban  village  and 
essentially  urban.  When  no  community  center  is  vis- 
ible, the  term  **  open  country  "  best  fits  the  case. 

The  disputed  territory  between  2,500  and  8,000  will 
be  urban  or  rural,  according  to  circumstances.  A 
community  of  this  size  in  the  urban  tract  is  by  no 
means  rural.  But  if  away  from  the  domination 
of  city  life  it  is  purely  country.  The  best  term 
the  writer  has  been  able  to  find  for  this  comfortable 
and  prosperous  type  of  American  communities, —  there 
are  over  4,500  of  them,  between  the  village  of  2,500 
and  the  city  of  8,000  people, —  is  the  good  old  New 
England  term  town;  which  may  be  either  rural  or 
urban  according  to  its  distance  from  the  nearest  city. 

In  the  last  analysis  the  terms  rural  and  urban  are 
qualitative  rather  than  quantitative.  In  spite  of  the 
apparent  paradox,  there  are  rural  cities  and  urban  vil- 
lages; small  provincial  cities  where  the  people  are 
largely  rural-minded,  and  suburban  villages  of  a  few 
hundred  people  whose  interests  are  all  in  the  life  of 
the  city.  But  in  general,  the  scope  of  the  term  "  coun- 
try life"  as  used  in  this  book  will  be  understood  to 
include  the  life  of  the  open  country,  the  rural  village 
and  most  country  towns  of  8,000  people  or  less,  whose 
outlook  is  the  sky  and  the  soil  rather  than  the  brick 
walls  and  limited  horizon  of  the  city  streets. 


4  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

II.    City  and  Country. 
How  the  Growing  City  Developed  the  Problem 

'  We  can  almost  say  the  growth  of  the  city  made  the 
country  problem.  It  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to 
say,  it  made  the  problem  serious.  The  problem  of 
rural  progress  would  still  exist,  even  if  there  were  no 
cities;  but  had  the  city  not  been  drafting  its  best 
blood  from  the  villages  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
we  should  probably  not  be  anxious  about  the  rural 
problem  to-day,  for  it  is  this  loss  of  leadership  which 
has  made  rural  progress  so  slow  and  difficult. 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  the  growth  of  cities  is 
not  merely  an  American  fact.  It  is  universal  in  all 
the  civilized  world.  Wherever  the  modern  industrial 
system  holds  sway  the  cities  have  been  growing  phe- 
nomenally. '.In  fact  the  city  population  in  this  coun- 
try is  less  in  proportion  than  the  city  population  of 
England,  Scotland,  Wales,  Australia,  Belgium,  Saxony, 
The  Netherlands  and  Prussia. 

The  present  gains  of  American  cities  are  largely 
due  to  immigration  and  to  the  natural  increase  of  births 
over  deaths,  especially  in  recent  years  with  improved 
sanitation,  but  for  many  decades  past  the  city  has 
gained  largely  at  the  expense  of  the  country.  Chi- 
cago became  a  city  of  over  two  million  before  the  first 
white  child  born  there  died,  in  March,  1907.  Mean- 
while, in  the  decade  preceding  1890,  792  Illinois  rural 
townships  lost  population,  in  the  following  decade  522, 
and  in  the  decade  1900-1910,  11 13,  in  spite  of  the  agri- 
cultural wealth  of  this  rich  prairie  state.  Likewise 
New  York  city  (with  Brooklyn)  has  doubled  in  twenty 


THE  RURAL   PROBLEM  5 

years  since  1890;  while  in  a  single  decade  almost  70% 
of  the  rural  townships  in  the  state  reported  a  loss.  The 
rural  state  of  Iowa  actually  reports  a  net  loss  of  7,000 
for  the  last  decade  (1900),  though  Des  Moines  alone 
gained  24,200,  and  all  but  two  of  the  cities  above  8,000 
grew.^ 

Naturally  in  the  older  sections  of  the  country  the 
rural  losses  hitherto  have  been  most  startling.  In  the 
rural  sections  of  New  Hampshire  Dr.  W.  L.  Anderson 
found  serious  depletion  from  1890  to  1900,  "  a  great 
enough  loss  to  strain  rural  society " ;  and  the  1910 
census  reports  even  worse  losses.  The  same  has  been 
only  less  true  of  the  rural  districts  in  Maine,  Vermont, 
eastern  Connecticut  and  portions  of  all  the  older 
states.  The  cities'  gains  cost  the  country  dear,  in 
abandoned  farms,  weakened  schools  and  churches  and 
discouraged  communities  drained  of  their  vitality.  , 

The  Surprising  Growth  of  Rural  America 

However,  in  spite  of  this  story  of  rural  depletion 
which  has  been  often  rehearsed,  the  rural  sections  of 
our  country  altogether  have  made  surprising  gains. 
City  people  especially  are  astonished  to  learn  that  our 
country,  even  if  the  cities  should  be  eliminated  entirely 
from  the  reckoning,  has  been  making  substantial  prog- 
ress. The  8,000  mark  was  for  years  reckoned  as  the 
urban  point.  Counting  only  communities  of  .less  than 
8,000  people  we  find  that  in  1850  the  country  population 
numbered  20,294,290 ;  in  1890,  44,349,747 ;  and  in  1906, 
54,107,571.  If  we  consider  only  communities  of  2,500 
or  less,  we  find  35J  millions  in  1880;  over  45  millions 

*  This    loss    however    was    in    the     early    half    of    the    decade,    as 
the  state  census  shows. 


6  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

in  1900;  and  nearly  50  millions  in  1910.  The  last 
census  reports  almost  53J  millions  of  people  living  in 
villages  of  5,000  or  less;  or  58.2%  of  the  population. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  spite  of  dismal  prophecies  to 
the  contrary  from  city  specialists,  and  in  spite  of  the 
undeniable  drift  to  the  city  for  decades,  the  total 
country  population  in  America  has  continued  to  grow. 
Rural  America  is  still  growing  11.2%  in  a  decade. 
Outside  of  the  densely  populated  north-eastern  states, 
the  nation  as  a  whole  is  still  rural  and  will  long  remain 
so.  Where  the  soil  is  poor,  further  rural  depletion 
must  be  expected;  but  with  normal  conditions  and 
with  an  increasingly  attractive  rural  life,  most  coun- 
try towns  and  villages  may  be  expected  to  hold  their 
own  reasonably  well  against  the  city  tide. 

We  hear  little  to-day  about  the  abandoned  farms 
of  New  England.  In  the  decade  past  they  have 
steadily  found  a  market  and  hundreds  of  them  have 
been  reclaimed  for  summer  occupancy  or  for  suburban 
homes  for  city  men.  Even  in  rural  counties  where 
decay  has  been  notable  in  many  townships,  there 
are  always  prosperous  towns  and  villages,  along  the 
rivers  and  the  railroads,  where  substantial  prosperity 
will  doubtless  continue  for  many  years  to  come. 

/4  False  and  Misleading  Comparison 

Unquestionably  a  false  impression  on  this  question 
has  prevailed  in  the  cities  foiL^  generation  past  be- 
cause of  obviously  unjust  comparisons.  Families 
coming  from  decadent  villages  to  prosperous  cities 
have  talked  much  of  rural  decadence.  Stories  of 
murders  and  low  morals  in  neglected  rural  communi- 


THE   RURAL   PROBLEM  7 

ties  have  made  a  great  impression  on  people  living  in 
clean  city  wards.  Meanwhile,  not  five  blocks  away, 
congested  city  slums  never  visited  by  the  prosperous, 
concealed  from  popular  view,  festering  social  corrup- 
tion and  indescribable  poverty  and  vice.  Let  us  be 
fair  in  our  sociological  comparisons  and  no  longer 
judge  our  rural  worst  by  our  urban  best.  Let  the 
rural  slum  be  compared  with  the  city  slum  and  the 
city  avenues  with  the  prosperous,  self-respecting  sec- 
tions of  the  country;  then  contrasts  will  not  be  so 
lurid  and  we  shall  see  the  facts  in  fair  perspective. 

As  soon  as  we  learn  to  discriminate  we  find  that 
country  life  as  a  whole  is  wholesome,  that  country 
people  as  a  rule  are  as  happy  as  city  people  and  fully 
as  jovial  and  light-hearted  and  that  the  fundamental 
prosperity  of  most  country  districts  has  been  gaining 
these  past  two  decades.  While  rural  depletion  is 
widespread,  rural  decadence  must  be  studied  not  as 
a  general  condition  at  all,  but  as  the  abnormal,  un- 
usual state  found  in  special  sections,  such  as  regions 
handicapped  by  poor  soil,  sections  drained  by  neigh- 
boring industrial  centers,  isolated  mountain  districts 
where  life  is  bare  and  strenuous,  and  the  open  country 
away  from  railroads  and  the  great  life  currents.  With 
this  word  of  caution  let  us  examine  the  latest  reports 
of.  rural  depletion. 

III.     Rural  Depletion  and  Rural  Degeneracy. 

The  Present  Extent  of  Rural  Depletion 

The  thirteenth  census  (1910)  shows  that  in  spite  of 
the  steady  gain  in  the  country  districts  of  the  United 


8  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

States  as  a  whole,  thousands  of  rural  townships  have 
continued  to  lose  population.  These  shrinking  com- 
munities are  found  everywhere  except  in  the  newest 
agricultural  regions  of  the  West  and  in  the  black  belt 
of  the  South.  The  older  the  communities  the  earlier 
this  tendency  to  rural  depletion  became  serious.  The 
trouble  began  in  New  England,  but  now  the  rural 
problem  is  moving  west.  Until  the  last  census  New 
England  was  the  only  section  of  the  country  to  show 
this  loss  as  a  whole ;  but  the  1910  figures  just  reported 
give  a  net  rural  loss  for  the  first  time  in  the  group  of 
states  known  as  the  "  east  north  central."  Yet  in 
both  cases,  the  net  rural  loss  for  the  section  was  less 
than  1%. 

Taking  2,500  as  the  dividing  line,  the  last  census  re- 
ports that  in  every  state  in  the  country  the  urban 
population  has  increased  since  1900,  but  in  six  states 
*he  rural  population  has  diminished.  In  two  states, 
Montana  and  Wyoming,  the  country  has  outstripped 
the  city;  but  in  general,  the  country  over,  the  cities 
grew  from  1900  to  1910  three  times  as  fast  as  the 
rural  sections.  ^Vhile  the  country  communities  of  the 
United  States  have  grown  11.2%  the  cities  and  towns 
above  2,500  have  increased  34.8%.  In  the  prosper- 
ous state  of  Iowa,  the  only  state  reporting  an  abso- 
lute loss,  the  rural  sections  lost  nearly  120,000.  Rural 
Indiana  lost  83,127,  or  5.1%;  rural  Missouri  lost  68,- 
716,  or  3.5% ;  rural  villages  in  New  Hampshire  show 
a  net  loss  of  10,108,  or  5.4% ;  and  rural  Vermont  has 
suffered  a  further  loss  of  8,222,  or  4.2%,  though  the 
state  as  a  whole  made  the  largest  gain  for  forty  years. 

These  latest  facts  from  the  census  are  valuable  for 


THE  RURAL  PROBLEM  9 

correcting  false  notions  of  rural  depletion.  It  is  un- 
fair to  count  up  the  number  of  rural  townships  in  a 
state  which  have  failed  to  grow  and  report  that  state 
rurally  decadent.  For  example,  a  very  large  majority 
of  the  Illinois  townships  with  less  than  2,500  people 
failed  to  hold  their  own  the  past  decade, — 1,113  out 
of  1,592.  But  in  many  cases  the  loss  was  merely 
nominal;  consequently  we  find,  in  spite  of  the  tre- 
mendous drain  to  Chicago,  the  rural  population  of  the 
state  as  a  whole  made  a  slight  gain.  This  case  is 
typical.  Thousands  of  rural  villages  have  lost  popu- 
lation ;  yet  other  thousands  have  gained  enough  to  off^ 
set  these  losses  in  all  but  the  six  states  mentioned. 

Losses  in  Country  Towns 

New  England  continues  to  report  losses,  not  only 
in  the  rural  villages,  but  also  in  the  country  towns  of 
between  2,500  and  5,000  population.  This  was  true 
the  last  decade  in  every  New  England  state  except 
Vermont.  Massachusetts  towns  of  this  type  made  a 
net  loss  of  about  30,000,  or  15%;  although  nearly  all 
the  larger  towns  and  many  villages  in  that  remarkably 
prosperous  state  made  gains.  This  class  of  towns  has 
also  made  net  losses  the  past  decade  in  Indiana,  Iowa, 
South  Dakota,  South  Carolina,  Alabama  and  Miss- 
issippi, although  in  these  last  four  states  the  smaller 
communities  under  2,500  made  substantial  gains.  This 
indicates  in  some  widely  different  sections  of  the  coun- 
try an  apparently  better  prosperity  in  the  open  country 
than  in  many  country  towns.  Similarly  in  several 
states,  the  larger  towns  between  five  and  ten  thou- 
sand population  have  netted  a  loss  in  the  last  decade, 


lO  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

as  in  New  York  State,  althoug-h  the  smaller  villages 
have  on  the  average  prospered. 

The  Need  of  Qualitative  Analysis  of  the  Census 

We  must  not  be  staggered  by  mere  figures.  A 
qualitative  analysis  of  the  census  sometimes  saves  us 
from  pessimism.  Someone  has  said  "  Even  a  grow- 
ing town  has  no  moral  insurance."  Mere  growth  docs 
not  necessarily  mean  improvement  either  in  business 
or  morals.  It  is  quite  possible  that  some  of  the  "  de- 
cadent" villages  which  have  lost  15%  of  their  popu- 
lation are  really  better  places  for  residence  than  they 
were  before  and  possibly  fully  as  prosperous.  It  de- 
pends entirely  on  the  kind  of  people  that  remain.  If 
it  is  really  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  there  will  be  no 
serious  problem.  But  if  it  is  "  the  heritage  of  the  un- 
fit," if  only  the  unambitious  and  shiftless  have  re- 
mained, then  the  village  is  probably  doomed. 

In  any  case,  the  situation  is  due  to  the  inevitable 
process  of  social  and  economic  adjustment.  Changes 
in  agricultural  method  and  opportunity  are  respon- 
sible for  much  of  it.  Doubtless  farm  machinery  has 
driven  many  laborers  away.  Likewise  the  rising  price 
of  land  has  sent  away  the  speculative  farmer  to  pas- 
tures new,  especially  from  eastern  Canada  and  the 
middle  west  in  the  States  to  the  low-priced  lands  of 
the  rich  Canadian  west.^    The  falling  native  birth- 

•  For  the  year  ending  March  31,  1910,  103,798  immigrants  from  the 
United  States  settled  in  Western  Canada,  vrhile  only  59.790  came 
from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  wealth  of  the  immigrants  set- 
tling in  western  Canada  during  the  five  years  previous  to  that  date 
was  estimated  as  follows.  British,  cash,  $37,546,000;  effects,  $18,773,000. 
From  United  States,  cash,  $157,260,000;  effects,  $110,982,000. — The 
Toronto  Globe,  July   27,   1912. 


THE   RURAL   PROBLEM  II 

rate,  especially  in  New  England,  has  been  as  potent  a,  \ 
factor  in  diminishing  rural  sections  as  has  the  lure 
of  the  cities. 

"  In  the  main,"  says  Dr.  Anderson  in  his  very  dis- 
criminating study  of  the  problem,  "  rural  depletion  is 
over.     In  its  whole  course  it  has  been  an  adjustment  of"^ 
industrial  necessity   and  of  economic  health;  every- 
where it  is  a  phase  of  progress  and  lends  itself  to  the 
optimist  that  discerns  deeper  meanings.     Nevertheless  y 
depletion  has  gone  so  far  as  to  affect  seriously  all   j 
rural  problems  within  the  area  of  its  action. 

"  The  difficult  and  perplexing  problems  are  found 
where  the  people  are  reduced  in  number.  That  broad 
though  irregular  belt  of  depleted  rural  communities, 
stretching  from  the  marshes  of  the  Atlantic  shore 
to  the  banks  of  the  Missouri,  which  have  surrendered 
from  ten  to  forty  per  cent  of  their  people,  within 
which  are  many  localities  destined  to  experience  fur- 
ther losses,  calls  for  patient  study  of  social  forces  and 
requires  a  reconstruction  of  the  whole  social  outfit. 
But  it  should  be  remembered  that  an  increasing  popu- 
lation gathers  in  rural  towns  thickly  strewn  through- 
out the  depleted  tract,  and  that  the  cheer  of  their 
growth  and  thrift  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  rural  situa- 
tion as  the  perplexity  incident  to  a  diminishing  body 
of  people."' 

Whereas  the  main  trend  in  rural  districts  is  toward  • 
better  social  and  moral  conditions  as  well  as  material 
prosperity,  we  do  not  have  to  look  far  to  find  local 
degeneracy  in  the  isolated  places  among  the  hills  or 
in  unfertile  sections  which  have  been  deserted  by  the 

•  "  The  Country  Town,"  p.  76. 


12  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

ambitious  and  intelligent,  leaving  a  pitiable  residuum  of 
"  poor  whites "  behind.  Such  localities  furnish  the 
facts  for  the  startling  disclosures  which  form  the  basis 
of  occasional  newspaper  and  magazine  articles  such 
as  Rollin  Lynde  Hartt's  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol. 
83,  The  Forum,  June  1892,  the  St.  Albans  Messenger 
Jan.  2,  1904,  et  cetera. 

The  Question  of  Degeneracy  in  City  and  Country 

The  question  has  long  been  debated  as  to  whether 
criminals  and  defectives  are  more  common  in  the 
city  or  the  country.  Dwellers  in  prosperous,  well-gov- 
erned suburban  cities,  that  know  no  slums,  are  posi- 
tive that  the  rural  districts  are  degenerate.  Country 
people  in  prosperous  rural  sections  of  Kansas,  fot 
instance,  where  no  poor-house  or  jail  can  be  found 
for  many  miles,  insist  that  degeneracy  is  a  city  symp- 
tom! It  is  obvious  that  discrimination  is  necessary. 
The  great  majority  of  folks  in  both  city  and  country 
are  living  a  decent  life ;  degeneracy  is  everywhere  the 
exception.  It  would  be  fully  as  reasonable  to  condemn 
the  city  as  a  whole  for  the  breeding  places  of  vice, 
insanity  and  crime  which  we  call  the  slums,  as  it  is 
to  characterize  rural  life  in  general  as  degenerate. 

In  view  of  the  evident  fact  that  both  urban  and 
rural  communities  have  their  defectives  and  delin- 
quents, in  varying  ratio,  depending  on  local  condi- 
tions, Professor  Giddings  suggests  a  clear  line  of  dis- 
crimination. "  Degeneration  manifests  itself  in  the 
protean  forms  of  suicide,  insanity,  crime  and  vice, 
which  abound  in  the  highest  civilization,  where  the 
tension  of  life  is  extreme,  and  in  those  places  from 


Rural   Schools  in  Daviess  County,   Indiana. 


THE  RURAL   PROBLEM  I3 

which  civilization  has  ebbed  and  from  which  population 
has  been  drained,  leaving  a  discouraged  remnant  to 
struggle  against  deteriorating  conditions.  .  .  .  Like 
insanity,  crime  occurs  most  frequently  in  densely  popu- 
lated towns  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  in  par- 
tially deserted  rural  districts.  Murder  is  a  phenome- 
non of  both  the  frontier  life  of  an  advancing  population 
and  of  the  declining  civilization  in  its  rear;  it  is  pre- 
eminently the  crime  of  the  new  town  and  the  decaying 
town.  .  .  .  Crimes  of  all  kinds  are  less  frequent  in 
prosperous  agricultural  communities  and  in  thriving 
towns  of  moderate  size,  where  the  relation  of  income 
to  the  standard  of  living  is  such  that  the  life  struggle 
is  not  severe."* 

Stages  and  Symptoms  of  Rural  Decadence 

In  his  discussion  of  the  country  problem,  Dr.  Josiah 
Strong  reminds  us  that  rural  decadence  comes  as  an 
easy  evolution  passing  through  rather  distinct  stages, 
when  the  rural  community  has  really  lost  its  best  blood.  ► 
Roads  deteriorate, — those  all-important  arteries  of 
country  life;  then  property  soon  depreciates;  schools 
and  churches  are  weakened ;  often  foreign  immigrants 
crowd  out  the  native  stock,  sometimes  infusing  real 
strength,  but  often  introducing  the  continental  sys- 
tem of  rural  peasantry,  with  absentee  landlords.  Then 
isolation  increases,  with  a  strong  tendency  toward  de- 
generacy and  demoralization. 

Where  this  process  is  going  on  we  are  not  surprised 
to  find  such  conditions  as  Rev.  H.  L.  Hutchins  de- 
scribed  in    1906   in    an   address    before   the   annual 

*  Principles  of   Sociology,   Giddings,   p.   348. 


14  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

meeting  of  the  Connecticut  Bible  Society  at  New 
Haven.  From  a  very  intimate  experience  of  many 
years  in  the  rural  sections  of  Connecticut,  he  gave 
a  most  disheartening  report,  dwelling  upon  the  in- 
creasing ignorance  of  the  people,  their  growing 
vices,  the  open  contempt  for  and  disregard  of  mar- 
riage, the  alarming  growth  of  idiocy,  partly  the  result 
of  inbreeding  and  incest,  some  localities  being  cited 
where  practically  all  the  residents  were  brothers  and 
and  sisters  or  cousins,  often  of  the  same  name,  so 
that  surnames  were  wholly  displaced  by  nicknames; 
the  omnipresence  of  cheap  whiskey  with  its  terrible 
effects,  the  resulting  frequency  of  crimes  of  violence; 
the  feebleness  and  backwardness  of  the  schools  and 
the  neglect  and  decay  of  the  churches,  resulting  in  in- 
evitable lapse  into  virtual  paganism  and  barbarism, 
in  sections  that  two  generations  ago  were  inhabited 
by  stalwart  Christian  men  and  women  of  the  staunch 
old  New  England  families. 

Doubtless  similar  illustrations  of  degradation  could 
be  cited  from  the  neglected  corners  of  all  the  older 
states  of  the  country,  where  several  generations  of 
social  evolution  have  ensued  under  bad  circumstances. 
In  all  the  central  states,  conditions  of  rural  degen- 
eracy now  exist  which  a  few  years  ago  were  supposed 
to  be  confined  to  New  England;  for  the  same  causes 
have  been  repeating  themselves  in  other  surroundings. 

An  illustration  of  "  discouraged  remnants  "  is  cited 
by  Dr.  Warren  H,  Wilson.  "  I  remember  driving,  in 
my  early  ministry,  from  a  prosperous  farming  sec- 
tion into  a  weakened  community,  whose  lands  had  a 
lowered  value  because  they  lay  too  far  from  the  rail- 


THE   RURAL   PROBLEM  1$ 

road.  My  path  to  a  chapel  service  on  Sunday  after- 
noon lay  past  seven  successive  farmhouses  in  each 
of  which  lived  one  member  of  a  family,  clinging  in 
solitary  misery  to  a  small  acreage  which  had  a  few 
years  earlier*  supported  a  household.  In  that  same 
neighborhood  was  one  group  of  descendants  of  two 
brothers,  which  had  in  two  generations  produced  six- 
teen suicides.  '  They  could  not  stand  trouble,'  the 
neighbors  said.  The  lowered  value  of  their  land, 
with  consequent  burdens,  humiliation  and  strain, 
had  crushed  them.  The  very  ability  and  distinction 
of  the  family  in  the  earlier  period  had  the  effect  by 
contrast  to  sink  them  lower  down."  * 

The  Nam's  Hollow  Case 

Ordinary  rural  degeneracy,  however,  is  more  apt  to 
be  associated  with  feeble-mindedness.  An  alarming, 
but  perhaps  typical  case  is  described  in  a  recent  issue 
of  The  Survey.  A  small  rural  community  in  New 
York  state,  which  the  author  calls  for  convenience 
Nam's  Hollow,  contains  232  licentious  women  and  199 
licentious  men  out  of  a  total  population  of  669;  the 
great  proportion  being  mentally  as  well  as  morally  de- 
fective. A  great  amount  of  consanguineous  marriage 
has  taken  place, —  mostly  without  the  formalities  pre- 
scribed by  law.  Sex  relations  past  and  present  are 
hopelessly  entangled.  Fifty-four  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Hollow  have  been  in  custody  either  in  county 
houses  or  asylimis,  many  are  paupers,  and  forty  have 
served  terms  in  state's  prison  or  jail.    There  are  192 

* "  The  Church  in  the  Open  Country,"  p.  9. 


l6  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

persons  who  are  besotted  by  the  use  of  liquor  "  in  ex- 
treme quantities." 

Apparently  most  of  this  degeneracy  can  be  traced 
back  to  a  single  family  whose  descendants  have  num- 
bered 800.  With  all  sorts  of  evil  traits  to  begin  with, 
this  family  by  constant  inbreeding  have  made  persis- 
tent these  evil  characteristics  in  all  the  different  house- 
holds and  have  cursed  the  whole  life  of  the  Hollow, 
not  to  mention  the  unknown  evil  wrought  elsewhere, 
whither  some  of  them  have  gone.  "  The  imbeciles 
and  harlots  and  criminalistic  are  bred  in  the  Hollow, 
but  they  do  not  all  stay  there."  A  case  is  cited  of  a 
family  of  only  five  which  has  cost  the  county  up  to 
date  $6,300,  and  the  expense  likely  to  continue  for 
many  years  yet  "  Would  you  rouse  yourself  if  you 
learned  there  were  ten  cases  of  bubonic  plague  at  a 
point  not  200  miles  away?"  asks  the  investigator 
of  Nam's  Hollow.  "  Is  not  a  breeding  spot  of  uncon- 
trolled animalism  as  much  of  a  menace  to  our  civiliza- 
tion? "« 

A  Note  of  Warning 

These  sad  stories  of  rural  degeneracy  must  not  make 
us  pessimists.  We  need  not  lose  our  faith  in  the  open 
country.  It  is  only  the  exceptional  community  which 
has  really  become  decadent  and  demoralized.  These 
communities  however  warn  us  that  even  self-respect- 
ing rural  villages  are  in  danger  of  following  the 
same  sad  process  of  decay  unless  they  are  kept  on 
the  high   plane  of   wholesome  Christian  living  and 

•  The  Survey,  March  2,  1912.  "  The  Nams;  the  Feeble>minded  as 
Country  Dwellers."     Charles  B.   Davenport.   Ph.D. 


THE  RURAL   PROBLEM  I7 

community  efficiency.  What  is  to  prevent  thousands 
of  other  rural  townships,  which  are  now  losing  popula- 
tion, gradually  sinking  to  the  low  level  of  personal 
shiftlessness  and  institutional  uselessness  which  are 
th^  marks  of  degeneracy?  Nothing  can  prevent  this 
but  the  right  kind  of  intelligent,  consecrated  leader- 
ship. It  is  not  so  largely  a  quantitative  matter,  how- 
ever, as  Dr.  Josiah  Strong  suggested  twenty  years 
ago  in  his  stirring  treatment  of  the  subject.  After 
citing  the  fact  that  932  townships  in  New  England 
were  losing  population  in  1890,  and  641  in  New  York, 
919  in  Pennsylvania,  775  in  Ohio,  et  cetera,  he  sug- 
gests :  *'  If  this  migration  continues,  and  no  new  pre- 
ventive measures  are  devised,  I  see  no  reason  why  iso- 
lation, irreligion,  ignorance,  vice  and  degradation 
should  not  increase  in  the  country  until  we  have  a 
rural  American  peasantry,  illiterate  and  immoral,  pos- 
sessing the  rights  of  citizenship,  but  utterly  incapable 
of  performing  or  comprehending  its  duties." 

After  twenty  years  we  find  the  rural  depletion  still 
continuing.  Though  New  England  in  1910  reports 
143  fewer  losing  towns  than  in  1890,  the  census  of 
1910  in  general  furnishes  little  hope  that  the  migra- 
tion from  the  country  sections  is  diminishing.^     Our 

» New   England   Towns   Losing   Population     1890 

Maine    348 

New  Hampshire    152 

Vermont    187 

Massachusetts    i  S4 

Rhode  Island la 

Connecticut    79 

93*  7*9  I4*< 


[910 

Total  townt 

(in  1910) 

391 

523 

163 

334 

1S6 

329 

123 

321 

8 

3a 

48 

153 

l8  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

hope  for  the  country  rests  in  the  fact  that  the  problem 
has  at  last  been  recognized  as  a  national  issue  and  that 
a  Country  Life  Movement  of  immense  significance 
is  actually  bringing  in  a  new  rural  civilization.  "  We 
must  expect  the  steady  deterioration  of  our  rural  popu- 
lation, unless  effective  preventive  measures  are  de- 
vised," was  Dr.  Strong's  warning  two  decades  ago. 
To-day  the  challenge  of  the  country  not  only  quotes 
the  peril  of  rural  depletion  and  threatened  degeneracy, 
but  also  appeals  to  consecrated  young  manhood  and 
womanhood  with  a  living  faith  in  the  permanency  of  a 
reconstructed  rural  life. 

Our  rural  communities  must  be  saved  from  de- 
cadence, for  the  sake  of  the  nation.  Professor  Gid- 
dings  well  says :  "  Genius  is  rarely  born  in  the  city. 
The  city  owes  the  great  discoveries  and  immortal  crea- 
tions to  those  who  have  lived  with  nature  and  with 
simple  folk.  The  country  produces  the  original  ideas, 
the  raw  materials  of  social  life,  and  the  city  combines 
ideas  and  forms  the  social  mind,"  In  the  threatened 
decadence  of  depleted  rural  communities,  and  in  the 
lack  of  adequate  leadership  in  many  places,  to  revive 
a  dying  church,  to  equip  a  modern  school,  to  develop 
a  new  rural  civilization,  to  build  a  cooperating  com- 
munity with  a  really  satisfying  and  efficient  life,  we 
have  a  problem  which  challenges  both  our  patriotism 
and  our  religious  spirit,  for  the  problem  is  funda- 
mentally a  religious  one. 

IV.    The  Urgency  of  the  Problem. 

A  broad-minded  leader  of  the  religious  life  of  col- 
lege men  has  recently  expressed  his  opinion  that  the 


An    Abanduiied    Church,    Daviess    County,    Indiana. 


THE  RURAL   PROBLEM  I9 

rural  problem  is  more  pressing  just  now  than  any 
other  North  American  problem.  He  is  a  city  man  and 
is  giving  his  attention  impartially  to  the  needs  of  all 
sections.  Two  classes  of  people  will  be  surprised  by 
his  statement.  Many  of  his  city  neighbors  are  so 
overwhelmed  by  the  serious  needs  of  the  city,  they 
near-sightedly  cannot  see  any  particular  problem  in 
the  country, —  except  how  to  take  the  next  train  for 
New  York!  And  doubtless  many  country  people, 
contented  with  second-rate  conditions,  are  even  un- 
aware that  they  and  their  environment  are  being 
studied  as  a  problem  at  all.  Some  prosperous  farmers 
really  resent  the  "  interference  "  of  people  interested 
in  better  rural  conditions  and  say  "  the  country 
would  be  all  right  if  let  alone."  But  neither  sor- 
did rural  complacency  nor  urban  obliviousness  can 
satisfy  thinking  people.  We  know  there  is  something 
the  matter  with  country  life.  We  discover  that  the  ? 
vitality  and  stability  of  rural  life  is  in  very  many  places  1 
threatened.  It  is  the  business  of  Christian  students  and 
leaders  to  study  the  conditions  and  try  to  remove  or 
remedy  the  causes. 

A  Hunt  for  Fundamental  Causes 

Depletion  added  to  isolation,  and  later  tending  to-  | 
ward  oegeneracy,  is  what  makes  the  rural  problem  " 
acute.  It  is  the  growth  of  the  city  which  has  made 
the  problem  serious.  If  we  would  discover  a  con- 
structive policy  for  handling  this  problem  successfully 
by  making  country  life  worth  while,  and  better  able 
to  compete  with  the  city,  then  we  must  find  out  why 
the  boys  and  girls  go  to  the  big  towns  and  why  their 


20  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

parents  rent  the  farm  and  move  into  the  village. 
For  two  generations  there  has  been  a  mighty  life- 
current  toward  the  cities,  sweeping  off  the  farm  many 
of  the  brightest  boys  and  most  ambitious  girls  in  all  the 
country-side,  whom  the  country  could  ill  afford  to 
spare.  The  city  needed  many  of  them  doubtless;  but 
not  all,  for  it  has  not  used  all  of  them  well.  Every- 
where the  country  has  suffered  from  the  loss  of 
them.  Why  did  they  go?  It  is  evident  that  a  larger 
proportion  of  the  brightest  country  boys  and  girls  must 
be  kept  on  the  farms  if  the  rural  communities  are  to 
hold  their  own  and  the  new  rural  civilization  really 
have  a  chance  to  develop  as  it  should. 

The  Unfortunate  Urbanising  of  Rural  Life 

As  a  rule  the  whole  educational  trend  is  toward  the 
city.  The  teachers  of  rural  schools  are  mostly  from 
the  larger  villages  and  towns  where  they  have  caught 
the  city  fever,  and  they  infect  the  children.  Even 
in  the  lower  grades  the  stories  of  city  life  begin  early 
to  allure  the  country  children,  and  with  a  subtle  sug- 
gestion the  echoes  of  the  distant  city's  surging  life 
come  with  all  the  power  of  the  Arabian  Nights  tales. 
Early  visits  to  the  enchanted  land  of  busy  streets  and 
wonderful  stores  and  factories,  the  circus  and  the 
theater,  deepen  the  impression,  and  the  fascination 
grows. 

In  proportion  to  the  nearness  to  the  city,  there  lias 
been  a  distinct  urbanizing  of  rural  life.  To  a  degree 
this  has  been  well.  It  has  raised  the  standard  of  com- 
fort in  country  homes  and  has  had  a  distinct  in* 
fluence  in  favor  of  real  culture  and  a  higher  plane  of 


THE  RURAL   PROBLEM  21 

living.  But  the  impression  has  come  to  prevail  widely 
that  the  city  is  the  source  of  all  that  is  interesting, 
profitable  and  worth  while,  until  many  country  folks 
have  really  come  to  think  meanly  of  themselves  and 
their  surroundings,  taking  the  superficial  city  estimate 
of  rural  values  as  the  true  one, 

A  real  slavery  to  city  fashions  has  been  growing  in- 
sidiously in  the  country.  So  far  as  this  has  affected 
the  facial  adornments  of  the  farmer,  it  has  made  for 
progress ;  but  as  seen  in  the  adoption  of  unhospitable 
vertical  city  architecture  for  country  homes, —  an  in- 
sult to  broad  acres  which  suggest  home-like  horizontals, 
—  and  the  wearing  by  the  women  of  cheap  imitations 
of  the  flaunting  finery  of  returning  "  cityfied "  sten- 
ographers, it  is  surely  an  abomination  pure  and 
simple. 

Bulky  catalogs  of  mail-order  houses,  alluringly 
illustrated,  have  added  to  the  craze,  and  the  new  fur- 
nishings of  many  rural  homes  resemble  the  tinsel  trap- 
pings of  cheap  city  flats,  while  substantial  heirlooms 
of  real  taste  and  dignity  are  relegated  to  the  attic. 
Fine  rural  discrimination  as  to  the  appropriate  and  the 
artistic  is  fast  crumbling  before  the  all-convincing 
argument,  "  It  is  the  thing  now  in  the  city."  To  be 
sure  there  is  much  the  country  may  well  learn  from 
the  city,  the  finer  phases  of  real  culture,  the  culti- 
vation of  social  graces  in  place  of  rustic  bashfulness 
and  boorish  manners,  and  the  saving  element  of  in- 
dustrial cooperation ;  but  let  these  gains  not  be  bought 
by  surrendering  rural  self-respect  or  compromising 
rural  sincerity,  or  losing  the  wholesome  ruggedness  of 
the  country   character.    The   new   rural   civilization 


22  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

must  be  indigenous  to  the  soil,  not  a  mere  urbanizing 
veneer.  Only  so  can  it  foster  genuine  community 
pride  and  loyalty  to  its  own  environment.  But  herein 
is  the  heart  of  our  problem. 


Why  Country  Boys  and  Girls  Leave  the  Farm 

The  mere  summary  of  reasons  alleged  by  many  in- 
dividuals will  be  sufficient  for  our  purpose,  without 
enlarging  upon  them.  Many  of  these  were  obtained 
by  Director  L.  H.  Bailey  of  Cornell,  the  master  student 
of  this  problem.  Countless  boys  have  fled  from  the 
farm  because  they  found  the  work  monotonous,  labori- 
ous and  uncongenial,  the  hours  long,  the  work  un- 
organized and  apparently  unrewarding,  the  father  or 
employer  hard,  exacting  and  unfeeling.  Many  of 
them  with  experience  only  with  old-fashioned  methods, 
are  sure  that  farming  does  not  pay,  that  there  is  no 
money  in  the  business  compared  with  city  employ- 
ments, that  the  farmer  cannot  control  prices,  is  forced 
to  buy  high  and  sell  low,  is  handicapped  by  big  mort- 
gages, high  taxes,  and  pressing  creditors.  It  is  both 
encouraging  and  suggestive  that  many  country  boys, 
with  a  real  love  for  rural  life,  but  feeling  that  farming 
requires  a  great  deal  of  capital,  are  planning  "  to  farm 
someday,  after  making  enough  money  in  some  other 
business." 

The  phantom  of  farm  drudgery  haunts  many  boys. 
They  feel  that  the  work  is  too  hard  in  old  age,  and  that 
it  cannot  even  be  relieved  sufficiently  by  machinery, 
that  it  is  not  intellectual  enough  and  furthermore 
leaves  a  man  too  tired  at  night  to  enjoy  reading  or 


THE  RURAL  PROBLEM  2$ 

social  opportunities.  The  work  of  farming  seems  to 
them  quite  unscientific  and  too  dependent  upon  luck 
and  chance  and  the  fickle  whims  of  the  weather. 

Farm  life  is  shunned  by  many  boys  and  girls  be- 
cause they  say  it  is  too  narrow  and  confining,  lacking 
in  freedom,  social  advantages,  activities  and  pleasures, 
which  the  city  offers  in  infinite  variety.  They  see  their 
mother  overworked  and  growing  old  before  her  time, 
getting  along  with  few  comforts  or  conveniences,  a 
patient,  uncomplaining  drudge,  living  in  social  isola- 
tion, except  for  uncultivated  neighbors  who  gossip  in- 
cessantly. 

Many  ambitious  young  people  see  little  future  on 
the  farm.  They  feel  that  the  farmer  never  can  be 
f ambus  in  the  outside  world  and  that  people  have  a 
low  regard  for  him.  In  their  village  high  school  they 
have  caught  visions  of  high  ideals;  but  they  fail  to 
discover  high  ideals  in  farm  life  and  feel  that  high  and 
noble  achievement  is  impossible  there,  that  the  farmer 
cannot  serve  humanity  in  any  large  way  and  can  attain 
little  political  influence  or  personal  power. 

With  an  adolescent  craving  for  excitement,  "  some- 
thing doing  all  the  time,"  they  are  famished  in  the 
quiet  open  country  and  are  irresistibly  drawn  to  the 
high-geared  city  life,  bizarre,  spectacular,  noisy,  full 
of  variety  in  sights,  sounds,  experiences,  pleasures, 
comradeships,  like  a  living  vaudeville;  and  offering 
freedom  from  restraint  in  a  life  of  easy  incognito, 
with  more  time  for  recreation  and  **  doing  as  you 
please."  But  with  all  the  attractiveness  of  city  life 
for  the  boys  and  girls,  as  compared  with  the  simplicity 
of  the  rural  home,  the  main  pull  cityward  is  probably 


Mil 


24  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

"  the  job."  They  follow  what  they  think  is  the  easiest 
road  to  making  a  living,  fancying  that  great  prizes 
await  them  in  the  business  life  of  the  town. 

Superficial  and  unreasonable  as  most  of  these  alleged 
reasons  are  to-day,  we  must  study  them  as  genuine 
symptoms  of  a  serious  problem.     If  country  life  is  to 
develop  a  permanently  satisfying  opportunity  for  the 
farm  boys  and  girls,  these  conditions  must  be  met. 
Isolation  and  drudgery  must  be  somehow  conquered.* 
The  business  of  farming  must  be  made  more  profitable,  ' 
until  clerking  in  the  city  cannot  stand  the  competition. 
The  social  and  recreative  side  of  rural  life  must  be  de-  ♦ 
veloped.    The   rural   community  must   be   socialized  • 
and  the  country  school  must  really  fit  for  rural  life. 
The  lot  of  the  farm  mothers  and  daughters  must  be 
made   easier   and   happier.     Scientific   farming  must 
worthily  appeal  to  the  boys  as  a  genuine  profession, 
not  a  mere  matter  of  luck  with  the  weather,  and  the 
farm  boy  must  no  longer  be  treated  as  a  slave  but  a 
partner  in  the  firm.® 

The  Folly  of  Exploiting  the  Country  Boy 

An  eminent  Western  lawyer  addressing  a  rural  life 
conference  in  Missouri  a  few  weeks  ago  explained 
thus  his  leaving  the  farm :     "  When  I  was  a  boy  on 

•  The  writer  wishes  to  make  it  quite  clear  that  he  is  thinking,  in 
this  discussion,  merely  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  ought  to  stay  on 
the  farm.  Unquestionably  many  of  them  must  and  should  go  to  the 
city.  This  book  pleads  merely  for  a  faxr  share  of  the  farm  boys 
and  girls  to  stay  in  the  country, — those  best  fitted  to  maintain  country 
life  and  rural  institutions.  Country  life  must  be  made  so  attractive 
and  so  worth-while  that  it  will  be  to  the  advantage  of  more  ot  the 
finest  young  people  to  invest  their  lives  there.  Every  effort  should  be 
made  to  prevent  a  boy's  going  from  the  farm  to  the  city,  provided 
he  is  likely  to  make  only  a  meager  success  in  the  city  or  possibly  a 
failure. 


THE   RURAL   PROBLEM  25 

the  farm  we  were  compelled  to  rise  about  4  o'clock 
every  morning.  From  the  time  we  got  on  our  clothes 
until  7:30  we  fed  the  live  stock  and  milked  the  cows. 
Then  breakfast.  After  breakfast,  we  worked  in  the 
field  until  1 1 :30,  when,  after  spending  at  least  a  half 
hour  caring  for  the  teams  we  went  to  dinner.  We 
went  back  to  work  at  i  o'clock  and  remained  in 
the  field  until  7:30  o'clock.  After  quitting  the  fields 
we  did  chores  until  8:30  or  9  o'clock,  and  then  we 
were  advised  to  go  to  bed  right  away  so  that  we  would 
be  able  to  do  a  good  day's  work  on  the  morrow." 

No  wonder  the  boy  rebelled !  This  story  harks  back 
to  the  days  when  a  father  owned  his  son's  labor  until 
the  boy  was  twenty-one,  and  could  either  use  the  boy 
on  his  own  farm  or  have  him  "  bound  out "  for  a 
term  of  years  for  the  father's  personal  profit.  Such 
harsh  tactlessness  is  seldom  found  to-day;  but  little 
of  it  will  be  found  in  the  new  rural  civilization.' 
Country  boys  must  not  be  exploited  if  we  expect  them 
to  stay  in  the  country  as  community  builders.  Many 
of  them  will  gladly  stay  if  given  a  real  life  chance. 

The  City's  Dependence  upon  the  Country 

The  country  is  the  natural  source  of  supply  for  the 
nation.    The  city  has  never  yet  been  self-sustaining. 
It  has  always  drawn  its  raw  materials  and  its  popula- 
tion from  the  open  country.     The  country  must  con-  1 
tinue  to  produce  the  food,  the  hardiest  young  men  and  i 

•Yet  in  a  class  of  115  college  men  at  the  Lake  Geneva  Student 
Conference  in  June,  1912,  a  surprising  number  stated  that  they  had 
suffered  a  similar  experience  as  boys  at  home,  though  usually  at  times 
when  the  farm  work  was  particularly  pressing.  One  claimed  that  he 
bad  driven  a  riding  cultivator  by  moonlight  at  2  a.  m. 


26  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

women,  and  much  of  the  idealism  and  best  leadership 
of  the  nation.  All  of  these  have  proven  to  be  in- 
digenous to  country  life.  Our  civilization  is  funda- 
mentally rural,  and  the  rural  problem  is  a  national 
problem,  equally  vital  to  the  city  and  the  whole  coun- 
try. The  cities  should  remember  that  they  have  a  vast 
deal  at  stake  in  the  welfare  of  the  rural  districts. 

The  country  for  centuries  got  along  fairly  well 
without  the  city,  and  could  continue  to  do  so ;  but  the 
city  could  not  live  a  month  without  the  country !  The 
great  railway  strike  last  fall  in  England  revealed  the 
fact  that  Birmingham  had  but  a  week's  food  supply. 
A  serious  famine  threatened,  and  this  forced  a  speedy 
settlement.  Meanwhile  food  could  not  be  brought  to 
the  city  except  in  small  quantities,  and  the  people  of 
Birmingham  learned  in  a  striking  way  their  utter  de- 
pendence upon  the  country  as  their  source  of  supply. 
The  philosophy  of  one  of  the  sages  of  China,  uttered 
ages  ago,  is  still  profoundly  true :  "  The  well-being 
of  a  people  is  like  a  tree ;  agriculture  is  its  root,  manu- 
factures and  commerce  are  its  branches  and  its  life; 
but  if  the  root  be  injured,  the  leaves  fall,  the  branches 
break  away  and  the  tree  dies."  ^° 

That  far-seeing  Irish  leader.  Sir  Horace  Plunkett, 
after  a  searching  study  of  American  conditions,  is  in- 
clined to  think  that  our  great  prosperous  cities  are 
blundering  seriously  in  not  concerning  themselves  more 
earnestly  with  the  rural  problem :  "  Has  it  been  suf- 
ficiently considered  how  far  the  moral  and  physical 
health  of  the  modern  city  depends  upon  the  constant 

"  Quoted  by  M.  Jules  Meline  (Premier  of  France)  in  "  The  Return 
to  the  Land." 


THE  RURAL   PROBLEM  27 

influx  of  fresh  blood  from  the  country,  which  has  ever 
been  the  source  from  which  the  town  draws  its  best 
citizenship?  You  cannot  keep  on  indefinitely  skim- 
ming the  pan  and  have  equally  good  milk  left.  Sooner 
or  later,  if  the  balance  of  trade  in  this  human  traffic 
be  not  adjusted,  the  raw  material  out  of  which  urban 
society  is  made  will  be  seriously  deteriorated,  and  the 
symptoms  of  national  degeneracy  will  be  properly 
charged  against  those  who  neglected  to  foresee  the  evil 
and  treat  the  causa.  .  .  .  The  people  of  every 
state  are  largely  bred  in  rural  districts,  and  the  physi- 
cal and  moral  well-being  of  those  districts  must  eventu- 
ally influence  the  quality  of  the  whole  people."  ^* 

V.    A  Challenge  to  Faith. 

The  seriousness  of  our  problem  is  sufficiently  clear. 
Our  consideration  in  this  chapter  has  been  confined 
mainly  to  the  personal  factors.  Certain  important 
social  and  institutional  factors  will  be  further  consid- 
ered in  Chapter  V  under  Country  Life  Deficiencies. 
With  all  its  serious  difficulties  and  discouragements 
the  rural  problem  is  a  splendid  challenge  to  faith. 
There  are  many  with  the  narrow  city  outlook  who  de- 
spair of  the  rural  problem  and  consider  that  coun- 
try life  is  doomed.  There  are  still  others  who  have 
faith  in  the  country  town  and  village  but  have  lost 
their  faith  in  the  open  country  as  an  abiding  place  for 
rural  homes.  Before  giving  such  people  of  little  faith  \ 
further  hearing,  we  must  voice  the  testimony  of  a  host  ^ 
of  country  lovers  who  have  a  great  and  enduring  faith 

""The  Rural  Life  Problem  of  the  United  SUtes,"  p.  47. 


28  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

in  the  country  as  the  best  place  for  breeding  men,  the 
most  natural  arena  for  developing  character,  the  most 
favorable  place  for  happy  homes,  and,  for  a  splendid 
host  of  country  boys  and  girls  the  most  challenging 
opportunity  for  a  life  of  service. 

Test  Questions  on  Chapter  I 

I. — How  would  you  define  the  Rural  Problem? 

2. — Illustrate  how  the  growth  of  the  city  has  aflfected 
the  rural  problem. 

3. — Explain  the  terms  rural,  urban,  city,  town,  and 
village. 

4. — What  misleading  comparisons  have  been  made 
between  city  and  country  conditions  ? 

5. — In  what  six  states  has  the  rural  population,  as  a 
whole,  shown  a  net  loss  in  the  last  ten  years  ? 

6. — To  what  extent  has  rural  America  grown  in  pop- 
ulation the  past  half  century? 

7. — Describe  the  symptoms  of  a  decadent  village. 

8. — Under  what  conditions  do  you  find  a  village  im- 
proving even  when  losing  population? 

9. — Discuss  carefully  the  comparative  degeneracy  of 

the  city  and  the  country. 
10. — Describe  some  of  the  stages  of  rural  degeneracy. 
II. — What  signs  of  rural  degeneracy  have  come  under 
your  personal  observation  and  how  do  you  ac- 
count for  the  conditions? 
12. — ^What  evidences  have  you  seen  of  the  "  urbaniz- 
ing "  of  rural  life,  and  what  do  you  think  about 
it? 
13. — Why  do  country  boys  and  girls  leave  the  farm 
and  go  to  the  city? 


THE  RURAL  PROBLEM  29 

14. — What  must  be  done  to  make  country  life  worth 
while,  so  that  a  fair  share  of  the  boys  and  g^rls 
may  be  expected  to  stay  there? 

15. — How  do  you  think  a  farmer  ought  to  treat  his 
boys? 

16. — ^To  what  extent  is  the  city  dependent  upon  the 
country  ? 

17. — Why  do  so  many  prosperous  farmers  rent  their 
farms  and  g^ve  up  country  life? 

i8. — How  does  the  village  problem  differ  from  the 
problem  of  the  open  country  ? 

19. — ^Do  you  believe  the  open  country  will  be  perma- 
nently occupied  by  American  homes,  or  must 
we  develop  a  hamlet  system,  as  in  Europe  and 
Asia? 

20. — To  what  extent  have  you  faith  in  the  ultimate  so- 
lution of  the  country  problem? 


CHAPTER  II 
COUNTRY  LIFE  OPTIMISM 


CHAPTER  II 
Country  Life  Optimism 

I.    Signs  of  a  New  Faith  in  Rural  Life 

A  tribute  from  the  city. 

The  Country  Boy's  Creed. 

City-bred  students  in  agricultural  colleges. 

Reasons  for  this  city-to-country  movement. 

II.     The  Privilege  of  Living  in  the  Country 

Some  city  life  drawbacks. 

The  attractiveness  of  country  life. 

The  partnership  with  nature. 

Rural  sincerity  and  real  neighborliness. 

The  challenge  of  the  difficult  in  rural  life. 

III.  The  Country  Life  Movement 

Its  real  significance. 

Its  objective :  a  campaign  for  rural  progress. 

Its  early  history :  various  plans  for  rural  welfare. 

Its  modern  sponsors:  the  agricultural  colleges. 

The  Roosevelt  Commission  on  Country  Life. 

Its  call  for  rural  leadership. 

Its  constructive  program  for  rural  betterment. 

IV.  Institutions  and  Agencies  at  Work 

Organized  forces  making  for  a  better  rural  life. 


CHAPTER  II 

COUNTRY  LIFE  OPTIMISM 

I.     Signs  of  a  New  Faith  in  Rural  Life. 
THE  farm:  best  home  of  the  family:  main 

SOURCE    of    national    WEALTH  :    FOUNDATION    OF 
CIVILIZED     society:     THE     NATURAL      PROVIDENCE 

This  tribute  to  the  fundamental  value  of  rural  life 
is  a  part  of  the  classic  inscription,  cut  in  the  marble 
over  the  massive  entrances,  on  the  new  union  rail- 
road station  at  Washington,  D.  C.  Its  calm,  clear 
faith  is  reassuring.  It  reminds  us  that  there  is 
unquestionably  an  abiding  optimism  in  this  matter 
of  country  life.  It  suggests,  that  in  spite  of  rural 
depletion  and  decadence  here  and  there,  country 
life  is  so  essential  to  our  national  welfare  it  will 
permanently  maintain  itself.  So  long  as  there  is 
a  city  civilization  to  be  fed  and  clothed,  there  must  al- 
ways be  a  rural  civilization  to  produce  the  raw  ma- 
terials. The  question  is,  will  it  be  a  Christian  civiliza- 
tion? 

Our  opening  chapter  has  made  it  clear,  that  if  the 
rural  problem  is  to  be  handled  constructively  and  suc- 
cessfully, rural  life  must  be  made  permanently  satis- 
fying and  worth  while.  It  must  not  only  be  attractive 
enough  to  retain  a  fair  share  of  the  boys  and  girls,  but 
also  rich  enough  in  opportunity  for  self-expression, 

33 


34  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

development  and  service  to  warrant  their  investing  a 
life-time  there  without  regrets. 

The  writer  believes  there  are  certain  great  attrac- 
tions in  country  life  and  certain  drawbacks  and  disad- 
vantages in  city  life  which,  if  fairly  considered  by  the 
country  boy,  would  help  him  to  appreciate  the  priv- 
ilege of  living  in  the  country.  It  is  certainly  true  that 
there  is  a  strong  and  growing  sentiment  in  the  city 
favoring  rural  life.  Many  city  people  are  longing  for 
the  freedom  of  the  open  country  and  would  be  glad  of 
the  chance  to  move  out  on  the  land  for  their  own  sake 
as  well  as  for  the  sake  of  their  children. 

In  this  connection  the  most  interesting  fact  is  the 
new  interest  in  country  life  opportunity  which  city  boys 
and  young  men:  are  manifesting.  The  discontented 
country  boy  who  has  come  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the 
city  finds  there  the  city  boy  anxious  to  fit  himself  for 
a  successful  life  in  the  country !  In  view  of  the  facts, 
the  farm  boy  tired  of  the  old  farm  ought  to  ponder 
well  Fishin'  'Zeke's  philosophy: 

"Fish  don't  bite  just  for  the  wishin', 

Keep  a  pullin'! 
Change  your  bait  and  keep  on  fishin'; 

Keep  a  pullin'! 
Luck  ain't  nailed  to  any  spot; 
Men  you  envy,  like  as  not. 
Envy  you  your  job  and  lot! 

Keep   a   pullin'!" 

In  many  agricultural  colleges  and  state  universities, 
we  find  an  increasing  proportion  of  students  coming 
from  the  cities  for  training  in  the  science  of  agricul- 


COUNTRY    LIFE   OPTIMISM  35 

ture  and  the  arts  of  rural  life.  This  is  a  very  signifi- 
cant and  encouraging  fact.  It  shows  us  that  the  tide 
has  begun  to  turn.  Rural  life  is  coming  to  its  own, 
for  country  life  is  beginning  to  be  appreciated  again 
after  several  decades  of  disfavor  and  neglect.  Our 
purpose  in  this  chapter  is  to  discuss  these  matters  in 
detail. 

It  is  difficult  to  find  a  more  comprehensive  state- 
ment of  the  attractiveness  of  country  life,  in  concrete 
terms,  than  this  fine  bit  of  rural  optimism  entitled  The 
Country  Boy's  Creed: 

THE  COUNTRY  BOY'S  CREED 

"  I  believe  that  the  country  which  God  made  is 
more  beautiful  than  the  city  which  man  made; 
that  life  out-of-doors  and  in  touch  with  the  earth 
is  the  natural  life  of  man.  I  believe  that  work  is 
work  wherever  I  find  it;  but  that  work  with  Na- 
ture is  more  inspiring  than  work  with  the  most 
intricate  machinery.  I  believe  that  the  dignity  of 
labor  depends  not  on  what  you  do,  but  on  how  you 
do  it;  that  opportimity  comes  to  a  boy  on  the  farm 
as  often  as  to  a  boy  in  the  city;  that  life  is  larger 
and  freer  and  happier  on  the  farm  than  in  the  town; 
that  my  success  depends  not  upon  my  location,  but 
upon  myself, — ^not  upon  my  dreams,  but  upon  what 
I  actually  do,  not  upon  luck  but  upon  pluck.  I  be- 
lieve in  working  when  you  work  and  playing 
when  you  play,  and  in  giving  and  demanding  a 
square  deal  in  every  act  of  life."  i 

There  are  many  contented  country  boys  in  comfort- 
able modern  homes  and  prosperous  rural  communities, 

^  By  Edwin  Otgood  Grover.  the  son  of  a  country  minister. 


36  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

who  heartily  assent  to  this  rural  confession  of  faith. 
"  For  substance  of  doctrine "  many  a  man  would 
frankly  accept  it  after  a  more  or  less  disappointing  life 
in  the  city  whirl.  It  is  not  difficult  to  find  men  who 
really  regret  that  they  left  the  farm  in  young  man- 
hood, now  that  country  life  has  so  greatly  increased  in 
attractiveness.  "  Farm  life  has  changed  a  great  deal," 
says  one  with  a  tone  of  regret,  "  since  I  left  the  farm 
twelve  years  ago.  Machinery  has  been  added,  making 
the  work  easier;  farming  has  become  more  scientific, 
giving  scope  to  the  man  who  does  not  wish  to  be  a 
mere  nobody.  For  the  last  few  years  there  has  been 
more  money  in  farming." 

Every  year  now  at  Cornell  University,  some  men 
change  their  course  from  the  overcrowded  engineer- 
ing to  the  agricultural  department.  This  confession 
of  a  late  change  of  heart  about  country  life  comes  from 
one  of  the  engineers  who  apparently  wishes  he  had 
done  likewise :  "  When  I  entered  the  university  and 
registered  in  mechanical  engineering,  I  had  the  idea 
that  a  fellow  had  to  get  off  the  farm,  as  the  saying 
goes,  *to  make  something  of  himself  in  the  world,' 
and  that  a  living  could  be  made  more  easily,  with  more 
enjoyment,  in  another  profession.  But  now,  after 
seeing  a  little  of  the  other  side  of  the  question,  if  I  had 
the  four  years  back  again,  agriculture  would  be  my 
college  course.  As  for  country  life  being  unattractive, 
I  have  always  found  it  much  the  reverse.  The  best 
and  happiest  days  of  my  life  have  been  on  the  farm, 
and  I  cannot  but  wish  that  I  were  going  back  again 
when  through  with  school  work." 


COUNTRY   LIFE  OPTIMISM  37 

City-bred  Students  in  Agricultural  Colleges 

In  reply  to  the  question  "  Why  are  so  many  city 
boys  studying  agriculture  ? "  a  dean  of  a  college  of 
agriculture  replied,  "  I  think  it  is  safe  to  say  that  a 
large  number  of  city-bred  boys  are  attracted  to  the 
agricultural  colleges  as  a  result  of  the  general  move- 
ment of  our  cities  toward  the  country.  The  agitation 
which  has  caused  the  business  man  to  look  upon  the 
rural  community  as  more  desirable  than  the  city,  leads 
him  to  send  his  son  to  an  agricultural  college  in 
preference  to  other  departments  of  the  university." 

This  city-to-country  movement  is  naturally  strong- 
est where  the  country-to-city  movement  has  long  been 
developing.  The  Massachusetts  State  College  reports 
only  about  25%  of  its  new  students  sons  of  farmers  and 
50%  of  its  enrollment  from  the  cities.  Yet  even  in 
the  rural  state  of  North  Carolina,  with  86%  in  rural 
territory  (under  2,500),  the  number  of  city  boys 
studying  agriculture  in  the  state  college  is  **  large 
enough  to  make  the  fact  striking." 

In  the  College  of  Agriculture  of  the  University  of 
Illinois,  there  are  756  students  enrolled  this  year. 
Eighty-one  of  these  came  from  Chicago  and  257  from 
other  cities  and  towns  above  5,000;  making  45% 
from  urban  centers.^ 

One-third  of  the  agricultural  students  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri  last  year  enrolled  from  cities  of 
8,000  or  over,  communities  which  formed  36%  of  the 
state's  population.  In  general  it  seems  to  be  true  that 
the  proportion  of  city  boys  in  the  various  agricultural 

*  Some  allowance  should  be  made  for  the  possibility  of  students  en- 
rolling  from  a  small  city  who  actually  live  on  a  suburban  farm. 


3$  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

colleges  is  approximately  as  large  as  the  ratio  of  city 
population  in  the  state ;  which  indicates  that  city  boys 
are  almost  as  likely  to  seek  technical  training  for  coun- 
try professions  as  the  country  boys  are.  In  a  few 
cases,  as  in  Massachusetts,  it  is  partly  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  the  Agricultural  College  is  the  only  state 
institution  with  free  tuition.  The  breadth  of  the 
courses  also  draws  many  who  do  not  plan  for  general 
farming  but  for  specialized  farming  and  the  increasing 
variety  of  the  modern  rural  professions.  The  facts 
clearly  show  that  the  city  boys  in  state  after  state  are 
seeing  the  vision  of  country  life  opportunity, 

A  study  of  the  home  addresses  of  American  students 
at  the  New  York  State  College  of  Agriculture,  Cor- 
nell University,  for  a  period  of  twelve  years  prior  to 
1907  shows  19%  from  large  cities,  34%  from  small 
cities  and  towns,  and  47%  from  rural  communities 
under  2,000.  The  proportion  of  city  students  is  evi- 
dently now  increasing,  as  indicated  by  this  year's 
figures.  Of  the  new  students  entering  this  year  from 
within  the  state  57%  came  from  cities  of  5,000  or  over, 
51%  of  whom  came  from  cities  of  10,000  upwards. 
Making  considerable  allowance  for  the  neglect  to  add 
"  R,  F.  D,"  in  registration,  it  is  still  evident  that  the 
splendid  equipment  for  country  life  leadership  offered 
at  Cornell  is  attracting  more  and  more  young  men  and 
women  from  the  cities.  ^ 

Reasons  for  this  City-to-Country  Movement 

Two  months  ago  the  agricultural  students  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  who  came  from  cities  and  larger 
towns  were  asked,  "  What  were  the  considerations 


COUNTRY   LIFE  OPTIMISM  39 

which  led  you  to  choose  an  agricultural  course?" 
Over  two  hundred  gave  their  answers  in  writing. 
Love  of  country  life  was  the  main  reason  mentioned 
by  131;  dislike  for  the  city,  22;  the  financial  induce- 
ments, 62 ;  and,  land  in  the  family,  36.  Farming  was 
stated  as  the  ambition  of  167,  teaching  21,  experiment 
station  work  23,  landscape  gardening  6,  and  other 
rural  professions  15. 

In  a  similar  referendum  at  Cornell  the  city  students 
mentioned  many  reasons  for  choosing  their  life 
work  in  the  country.  Among  them  were  cited  the 
love  of  nature  and  farm  life,  the  desire  to  live  out  of 
doors,  love  for  growing  things,  and  love  for  animals, 
the  financial  rewards  of  farming,  its  independence,  its 
interesting  character  and  the  healthful  life  it  makes 
possible.  Other  interesting  reasons  given  will  be  cited 
later  in  this  chapter. 

II.    The  Privilege  of  Living  in'the  Country. 

Some  City  Life  Drawbacks 

Millions  of  people  unquestionably  live  in  the  country 
from  choice.  They  would  not  live  in  the  city  unless 
compelled  to  do  so.  A  peculiarly  amusing  kind  of 
provincialism  is  the  attitude  of  the  superficial  city 
dweller  who  cannot  understand  why  any  one  could 
possibly  prefer  to  live  in  the  country!  Yet  an  un- 
usually able  college  professor  with  a  national  reputa- 
tion recently  remarked  that  he  could  not  conceive  of 
anything  which  could  induce  him  to  live  in  the  city. 

With  all  the  attractions  of  the  city,  it  has  serious 
drawbacks  which  are  not  found  in  the  country.     If 


40  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

country  boys  actually  understood  the  conditions  of  the 
struggle  into  which  they  were  entering  in  the  city, 
more  of  them  would  stay  on  the  farm.  "  I  lived  one 
year  in  the  city;  which  was  long  enough,"  writes  a 
country  boy.  The  severe  nervous  tension  of  city  life, 
the  high  speed  of  both  social  life  and  industry  and  the 
tyranny  to  hours  and  close  confinement  in  offices, 
banks  and  stores  are  particularly  hard  for  the  country 
bred.  The  many  disadvantages  of  the  wage-earner, 
slack  work  alternating  with  the  cruel  pace,  occasional 
strikes  or  lockouts,  and  the  impersonal  character  of 
the  corporation  employer,  coupled  with  the  fact  often 
realized  that  in  spite  of  the  crowds  there  are  "  no 
neighbors  "  in  the  city,  reminds  the  country-bred  la- 
borer of  the  truth  of  President  Roosevelt's  words: 
"  There  is  not  in  the  cities  the  same  sense  of  common 
underlying  brotherliness  which  there  is  still  in  the 
country  districts." 

A  striking  cartoon  was  recently  published  by  the 
Paterson  (N.  J.)  Guardian  entitled  "The  City  Prob- 
lem." It  represented  "  Mr.  Ruralite "  in  the  fore- 
ground halting  at  the  road  which  leads  down  to  the  city, 
while  from  the  factory  blocks  by  the  river  two  colossal 
grimy  hands  are  raised  in  warning,  with  the  message, 
GO  back!  On  one  hand  is  written  high  prices;  on 
the  other  poor  health. 

With  the  recent  improvement  in  city  sanitation, 
which  has  perceptibly  lowered  the  death  rate,  the  city 
is  physically  a  safer  place  to  live  in  than  it  used  to  be ; 
but  slum  sections  are  still  reeking  with  contagion,  and 
through  most  of  the  city  wilderness  the  smoke  and 


COUNTRY  LIFE  OPTIMISM  4I 

grime  is  perpetual  and  both  pure  air  and  clear 
sunshine  are  luxuries  indeed.  For  most  people 
the  crowded  city  offers  little  attraction  for  a 
home.  The  heart  of  great  cities  has  ceased  to  grow. 
The  growing  sections  are  the  outlying  wards  and  the 
suburbs,  for  obvious  reasons.  The  moral  dangers  of 
the  city  where  the  saloon  is  usually  entrenched  in 
politics  and  vice  is  flagrantly  tolerated  if  not  actually 
protected  help  to  explain  the  fact  that  a  continuous 
procession  of  city  families  is  seeking  homes  in  subur- 
ban or  rural  towns  where  the  perils  surrounding  their 
children  are  not  so  serious. 

The  Attractiveness  of  Country  Life 

It  is  evidently  true,  as  Dean  Bailey  suggests,  "  Even 
in  this  epoch  of  hurried  city-building,  the  love  of  the 
open  country  and  of  plain,  quiet  living  still  remains  as 
a  real  and  vital  force."  The  chance  to  live  in  the  open 
air,  to  do  out  of  door  work  and  enjoy  consequently  a 
vigorous  health,  is  a  great  boon  which  is  coming  to  be 
more  and  more  appreciated.  "  I  intend  to  stick  to 
farm  life,"  writes  a  Cornell  agricultural  student,  "  for 
I  see  nothing  in  the  turmoil  of  city  life  to  tempt  me 
to  leave  the  quiet,  calm  and  nearness  to  nature  with 
which  we,  as  farmers,  are  surrounded.  I  also  see 
the  possibilities  of  just  as  great  financial  success  on 
a  farm  as  in  any  profession  which  my  circumstances 
permit  me  to  attain."  Another  contented  country  boy 
v/rites,  "  I  think  the  farm  offers  the  best  opportunity 
for  the  ideal  home.  I  believe  that  farming  is  the  far- 
thest removed  of  any  business  from  the  blind  struggle 


42  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

after  money,  and  that  the  farmer  with  a  modest  cap- 
ital can  be  rich  in  independence,  contentment  and 
happiness." 

A  variety  of  other  significant  reasons  have  been 
collected  by  Director  Bailey  from  boys  who  are  loyal 
to  their  country  homes.  Many  speak  of  the  profit- 
ableness of  scientific  farming,  but  the  majority  are 
thinking  of  other  privileges  in  rural  life  which  out- 
weigh financial  rewards,  such  as  the  fact  that  the 
farmer  is  really  producing  wealth  first-hand  and  is 
serving  the  primary  needs  of  society.  ^"1  expect  to 
make  a  business  of  breeding  live-stock.  I  like  to 
work  out  of  doors,  where  the  sun  shines  and  the  wind 
blows,  where  I  can  look  up  from  my  work  and  not 
be  obliged  to  look  at  a  wall.  I  dislike  to  use  a  pen  as 
a  business.  I  want  to  make  new  things  and  create 
new  wealth,  not  to  collect  to  myself  the  money  earned 
by  others.  I  cannot  feel  the  sympathy  which  makes 
me  a  part  of  nature,  unless  I  can  be  nearer  to  it  than 
office  or  university  life  allows.  I  like  to  create  things. 
Had  I  been  dexterous  with  my  hands,  I  might  have 
been  an  artist;  but  I  have  found  that  I  can  make  use 
of  as  high  ideals,  use  as  much  patience,  and  be  of  as 
much  use  in  the  world  by  modeling  in  flesh  and  bone 
as  I  can  by  modeling  in  marble." 

In  spite  of  the  common  notion  of  the  farm  boys  who 
shirk  country  life,  there  is  a  great  attraction  now  in 
the  fact  that  farming  really  requires  brains  of  a  high 
order,  oflFers  infinite  opportunity  for  broad  and  deep 
study,  a  chance  for  developing  technical  skill  and 
personal  initiative  in  quite  a  variety  of  lines  of 
work,   all   of    which   means    a   growing,   broadening 


COUNTRY   LIFE  OPTIMISM  43 

life    and    increasing    self-respect    and    satisfaction. 

The  Partnership  With  Nature 

Any  briefest  mention  of  the  attractiveness  of  coun- 
try life  would  be  incomplete  without  reference  to  the 
nearness  to  nature  and  the  privilege  of  her  inspiring 
comradeship.  Not  only  is  the  farmer's  sense  of  part- 
nership with  nature  a  mighty  impulse  which  tends  to 
make  him  an  elemental  man ;  but  every  dweller  in  the 
country  with  any  fineness  of  perception  cannot  fail 
to  respond  to  the  subtle  appeal  of  the  beautiful  in  the 
natural  life  about  him.  As  Washington  Irving  wrote, 
in  describing  rural  life  in  England,  "  In  rural  occupa- 
tion there  is  nothing  mean  and  debasing.  It  leads  a 
man  forth  among  scenes  of  natural  grandeur  and 
beauty ;  it  leaves  him  to  the  working  of  his  own  mind, 
operated  upon  by  the  purest  and  most  elevating  of 
external  influences.  Such  a  man  may  be  simple  and 
rough,  but  he  cannot  be  vulgar." 

As  young  Bryant  wrote  among  the  beautiful  Berk- 
shire hills,  "  To  him  who  in  the  love  of  nature  holds 
communion  with  her  visible  forms,  she  speaks  a 
various  language."  Without  an  interpreter,  sometimes 
the  message  to  the  soul  is  heard  as  in  a  foreign  tongue ; 
but  the  message  is  voiced  again  like  the  music  of 
perennial  springs,  and  others  hear  it  with  ear  and 
heart,  and  it  brings  peace  and  comfort  and  God's  love. 
In  his  beautiful  chapter  on  this  topic  Dr.  W.  L.  An- 
derson writes :  "  By  a  subtle  potency  the  rural  en- 
vironment comes  to  be  not  the  obtrusive  masses  of 
earth,  nor  the  monotonous  acres  of  grass,  nor  the  daz- 
zling stress  of  endless  flowers,  nor  the  disturbing  chat- 


44  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

ter  of  the  birds ;  but  instead  of  these,  hills  that  speak  of 
freedom,  a  sky  that  brings  the  infinite  near,  meadows 
verdant  with  beauty,  air  vocal  with  song.  Beauty, 
sublimity,  music,  freedom,  are  in  the  soul." '  Surely 
the  uplifting  influence  of  nature  is  a  wonderful  gift  to 
those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  live  in  the  country. 
It  takes  the  petty  and  sordid  out  of  life.  It  trans- 
figures common  things  with  beauty  and  fresh  meaning, 
with  the  cycle  of  the  seasons  and  ever  freshness  of  the 
days.  It  brings  to  those  who  listen  a  quiet  message  of 
content. 

Rural  Sincerity  and  Real  Neighborliness 

Among  the  country  privileges  not  often  mentioned 
is  the  chance  one  has  to  live  with  real  folks.  There 
is  a  genuineness  about  country  people  that  is  not  often 
found  in  crowded  towns  where  conventionalities  of  life 
veneer  even  the  ways  of  friends,  and  where  custom 
dictates  and  fashion  rules  and  the  very  breadth  of 
social  opportunity  makes  superficial  people,  flitting 
from  friend  to  friend,  not  pausing  to  find  the  depths 
in  the  eye  or  the  gold  in  the  character. 

With  fine  simplicity,  sometimes  with  blunt  speech  to 
be  sure,  our  rural  friends  pierce  through  the  arti- 
ficial and  find  us  where  we  are;  honoring  only  what 
is  worthy,  caring  nothing  for  titles  or  baubles,  slow  to 
welcome  or  woo  or  even  to  approve ;  but  quick  to  be- 
friend when  real  need  appears,  and  having  once  be- 
friended, steady  and  true  in  friendship,  awkward  in 
expression,  maybe,  but  true  as  steel.  To  live  with 
such  country  folks  is  to  know  the  joy  of  real  neigh- 

•  "The  Country  Town,"  p.  185. 


COUNTRY  LIFE  OPTIMISM  45 

bors.  To  work  with  them  takes  patience,  honest  ef- 
fort to  overcome  inborn  conservatism,  and  a  brother's 
sincere  spirit;  but  when  cooperation  is  once  promised, 
your  goal  is  gained.  They  will  say  what  they  mean. 
They  will  do  as  they  say. 

The  Challenge  of  the  Difficult  in  Rural  Life 

Since  the  invention  of  the  sulky  plow,  the  mowing 
machine  and  the  riding  harrow,  et  cetera,  an  American 
humorist  remarked  that  farming  is  rapidly  becoming 
a  sedentary  occupation !  Drudgery  has  so  largely  been 
removed  that  it  is  probably  true  that  there  is  no  more 
"  hack-work "  or  dull  routine  in  agriculture  than  in 
other  lines  of  business.  But  plenty  of  hard  work  re- 
mains the  farmer's  task.  There  is  enough  of  the  dif- 
ficult left  to  challenge  the  strong  and  to  frighten  the 
weakling,  and  in  this  very  fact  is  a  bit  of  rural  op- 
timism. It  applies  not  merely  to  farming  but  to  coun- 
try life  in  general. 

Our  pioneer  days  certainly  developed  a  sturdy  race 
of  men.  They  lived  a  strenuous  life  with  plenty  of 
hardship,  toil  and  danger,  but  it  put  iron  into  the  blood 
of  their  children  and  made  wonderful  physiques,  clear 
intellects,  strong  characters.  This  heroic  training 
nurtured  a  remarkable  race  of  continent  conquerors 
fitted  for  colossal  tasks  and  undaunted  by  difficulties. 
The  rise  of  great  commonwealths,  developing  rapidly 
now  into  rich  agricultural  empires,  has  rewarded  the 
pioneers'  faith  and  sacrifice. 

All  are  thankful  that  the  rigor  of  those  heroic  days 
Is  gone  with  the  conquest  of  the  wilderness.  But  few 
discern  in  the  luxurious  comfort  of  hyper-civilized  life 


46  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

a  peculiar  peril.  Our  fathers,  with  a  fine  scorn  for  the 
weather,  braved  the  wintry  storms  with  a  courage 
which  brought  its  own  rewards  in  toughened  fiber 
and  lungs  full  of  ozone.  To-day  in  our  super-heated 
houses  we  defy  the  winter  to  do  us  any  good.  We 
have  reduced  comfort  to  a  fine  art.  Even  heaven  has 
lost  its  attractiveness  to  our  generation.  Luxury  has 
become  a  national  habit  if  not  a  national  vice. 

Our  food  is  not  coarse  enough  to  maintain  good  di- 
gestion. Our  desk-ridden  thousands  are  losing  the 
vigor  that  comes  only  from  out-of-door  life.  Exer- 
cise for  most  men  has  become  a  lost  art;  they  smoke 
instead!  What  with  electric  cars  for  the  poor  man 
and  motor  cars  for  the  near  rich,  walking  is  losing  out 
fast  with  the  city  multitudes.  Our  base  ball  we  take 
by  proxy,  sitting  on  the  bleachers;  our  recreation  is 
done  for  us  by  professional  entertainers  in  theater, 
club  and  opera.  In  a  score  of  ways  the  creature  com- 
forts of  a  luxury  loving  age  are  surely  enervating 
those  who  yield  to  them.  Our  modern  flats  equipped 
with  every  conceivable  convenience  to  lure  a  man  and 
a  woman  into  losing  the  work  habit  and  reducing  to 
the  minimum  the  expenditure  of  energy,  are  doing  their 
share  to  take  effort  out  of  life  and  to  make  us  merely 
effete  products  of  civilization ! 

Modern  city  life,  for  the  comfortably  situated,  is 
too  luxurious  to  be  good  for  the  body,  the  mind  or 
the  morals.  It  dulls  the  "  fighting  edge  " ;  it  kills  am- 
bition with  complacency ;  it  often  takes  the  best  incen- 
tives out  of  life;  it  makes  subtle  assault  upon  early 
ideals  and  insidiously  undermines  the  moral  standards. 
We  are  fast  losing  the  zest  for  the  climbing  life.     We 


COUNTRY   LIFE  OPTIMISM  47 

need  the  challenge  of  the  difficult  to  spur  us  on  to  real 
conquests  and  to  fit  us  for  larger  tasks. 

It  is  the  glory  of  country  life  that  it  is  by  no  means 
enervated  or  over-civilized.  Enough  of  the  rough 
still  remains  for  all  practical  purposes.  Farm  homes 
are  comfortable  usually  but  not  luxurious.  Rural  life 
is  full  of  the  physical  zest  that  keeps  men  young  and 
vigorous.  As  Dr.  F.  E.  Clark  suggests,  farming  fur- 
nishes an  ideal  "moral  equivalent  of  war."  The  an- 
nual conquest  of  farm  difficulties  makes  splendid  fight- 
ing. There  are  plenty  of  natural  enemies  which  must 
be  fought  to  keep  a  man's  fighting  edge  keen  and  to 
keep  him  physically  and  mentally  alert.  What  with  the 
weeds  and  the  weather,  the  cut-worms,  the  gypsy,  and 
the  codling  moths,  the  lice,  the  maggots,  the  cater- 
pillars, the  San  Jose  scale  and  the  scurvy,  the  borers, 
the  blight  and  the  gorger,  the  peach  yellows  and  the 
deadly  curculio,  the  man  behind  the  bug  gun  and  the 
sprayer  finds  plenty  of  exercise  for  ingenuity  and  a 
royal  chance  to  fight  the  good  fight.  Effeminacy  is 
not  a  rural  trait.  Country  life  is  great  for  making 
men ;  men  of  robust  health  and  mental  resources  well 
tested  by  difficulty,  men  of  the  open-air  life  and  the 
skyward  outlook.  Country  dwellers  may  well  be 
thankful  for  the  challenge  of  the  difficult.  It  tends  to 
keep  rural  life  strong. 

Our  rural  optimism  however  does  not  rest  solely 
upon  the  attractiveness  of  country  life  and  the  various 
assets  which  country  life  possesses.  We  find  new 
courage  in  the  fact  that  these  assets  have  at  last  been 
capitalized  and  a  great  modern  movement  is  pro- 
moting the  enterprise. 


48  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

III.    The  Country  Life  Movement. 

Its  Real  Significance 

The  modern  country  life  movement  in  America  has 
little  in  common  with  the  "  back  to  the  soil "  agita- 
tion in  recent  years.  This  latter  is  mainly  the  cry  of 
real  estate  speculators  plus  newspaper  echoes.  The 
recent  years  of  high  prices  and  exorbitant  cost  of  city 
living  have  popularized  this  slogan,  the  assumption 
being  that  if  there  were  only  more  farmers,  then  food 
prices  would  be  lower.  This  assumes  that  the  art  of 
farming  is  easily  acquired  and  that  the  untrained  city 
man  could  go  back  to  the  soil  and  succeed.  What  we 
really  need  is  better  farmers  rather  than  more  farmers ; 
and  the  untrained  city  man  who  buys  a  farm  is  rather 
apt  to  make  a  failure  of  it, —  furnishing  free  amuse- 
ment meanwhile  for  the  natives, —  for  the  work  of 
farming  is  highly  technical,  and  requires  probably  more 
technical  knowledge  than  any  other  profession  except 
the  practice  of  medicine. 

There  are  few  abandoned  farms  to-day  within  easy 
distance  of  the  cities.  For  several  years  it  has  been 
quite  the  fad  for  city  men  of  means  to  buy  a  farm,  and 
when  a  competent  farm  manager  is  placed  in  charge 
the  experiment  is  usually  a  safe  one.  Often  it  proves 
a  costly  experiment  and  seldom  does  the  city-bred 
owner  really  become  a  valuable  citizen  among  his  rural 
neighbors.  He  remains  socially  a  visitor,  rather  than 
a  real  factor  in  country  life.  Conspicuous  excep- 
tions could  of  course  be  cited,  but  unfortunately  this 
seems  to  be  the  rule. 

The  kindly  purpose  of  well-meaning  philanthropists 


^fH  ^^f$f^0f¥^^f  if  ^^ 


Rural     Redirection    by    the    County    Committee    of    the    Lake 
County,  Ohio,  Associations. 

One  hundred  and  forty  farmers  in  "five  day  school,"  the  Ohio 
Agricultural  College  cooperating.  A  girls'  exhibit  in  cut  flower 
contest.  A  May  pole  dance  at  a  townsliip  school  picnic.  One  of 
Hie  boys  partieijiating  in  corn  growing  contest.  .The  winner  of  the 
strawberry  growing   contest. 


COUNTRY   LIFE  OPTIMISM  49 

to  transplant  among  the  farmers  the  dwellers  in  the 
city  slums  is  resented  by  both!  It  would  be  a  ques- 
tionable kindness  anyway,  for  the  slum  dweller  would 
be  an  unhappy  misfit  in  the  country  and  escape  to  his 
crowded  alley  on  the  earliest  opportunity,  like  a  drunk- 
ard to  his  cups.  Sometimes  a  hard-working  city  clerk 
or  tradesman  hears  the  call  to  the  country  and  suc- 
ceeds in  wresting  his  living  from  the  soil.  The  city 
man  need  not  fail  as  a  farmer.  It  depends  upon  his 
capacity  to  learn  and  his  power  of  adaptation  to  a 
strange  environment.  The  "  back  to  the  soil  "  move- 
ment is  not  to  be  discouraged;  but  let  us  not  expect 
great  things  from  it.  The  real  "  Country  Life  Move- 
ment "  is  something  quite  diffierent. 

Its  Objective:  A  Campaign  for  Rural  Progress 

The  back-to-the-soil  trend  is  a  city  movement.  The 
real  country  life  movement  is  a  campaign  for  rural 
progress  conducted  mainly  by  rural  people,  not  a 
paternalistic  plan  on  the  part  of  city  folks  for  rural 
redemption.  It  is  defined  by  one  of  the  great  rural 
leaders  as  the  working  out  of  the  desire  to  make  rural 
civilization  as  effective  and  satisfying  as  other  civiliza- 
tion; to  make  country  life  as  satisfying  as  city  life 
and  country  forces  as  effective  as  city  forces.  Inci- 
dentally he  remarks,  "  We  call  it  a  new  movement. 
In  reality  it  is  new  only  to  those  who  have  recently 
discovered  it." 

Its  Early  History:  Various  Plans  for  Rural  Welfare 

The  father  of  the  country  life  movement  seems  to 
have  been  George  Washington.  He  and  Benjamin 
Franklin    were    among    the    founders    of    the    first 


50  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

farmers'  organization  in  America,  the  Philadelphia  So- 
ciety for  Promoting  Agriculture,  established  in  1785. 
There  were  about  a  dozen  such  societies  by  1800,  pat- 
terned after  similar  organizations  in  England.  Presi- 
dent Washington  had  an  extensive  correspondence 
with  prominent  men  in  England  on  this  subject  and 
made  it  the  subject  of  his  last  message  to  Congress. 
He  called  attention  to  the  fundamental  importance 
of  agriculture,  advocated  agricultural  fairs,  a  national 
agricultural  society  and  government  support  for  in- 
stitutions making  for  rural  progress. 

Since  these  early  days  there  have  been  many  organ- 
ized expressions  of  rural  ambition,  most  of  them  only 
temporary  but  contributing  more  or  less  to  the  move- 
ment for  the  betterment  of  country  life.  There  were 
over  900  agricultural  societies  in  1858  and  these  had 
increased  to  1,350  by  1868  in  spite  of  the  setback  of 
the  civil  war.  Most  of  these  were  county  organiza- 
tions whose  chief  activity  was  an  annual  fair.  Agri- 
cultural conventions  were  occasionally  held,  sometimes 
national  in  scope,  which  discussed  frankly  the  great 
questions  vital  to  farmers ;  and  more  permanent  organ- 
izations soon  developed  which  had  a  great  influence 
in  bringing  the  farmers  of  the  country  into  cooperation 
with  each  other  industrially  and  politically.  Fore- 
most among  these  were  the  Grange  (1867),  the 
Farmers'  Alliance  (1875),  the  Farmers'  Union  (1885), 
Farmers'  Mutual  Benefit  Organization  (1883),  and 
the  Patrons  of  Industry  (1887.)  The  Farmers'  Na- 
tional Congress  has  met  annually  since  1880,  and  has 
exerted  great  influence  upon  legislation  during  this 
period,  in  the  interest  of  the  rural  communities. 


COUNTRY  LIFE  OPTIMISM  5I 

Its  Modern  Sponsors:  The  Agricultural  Colleges 

Important  as  these  efforts  at  organized  cooperation 
among  farmers  have  been,  nothing  has  equalled  the  in- 
fluence of  the  agricultural  colleges,  which  are  now 
found  in  every  state  and  are  generously  supported  by 
the  states  in  addition  to  revenue  from  the  "  land-grant 
funds  "  which  all  the  colleges  possess.  These  great 
institutions  have  done  noble  service  in  providing  the 
intelligent  leadership  not  only  in  farm  interests  but  also 
in  all  the  affairs  of  country  life.  At  first  planned  to 
teach  agriculture  almost  exclusively,  many  of  them 
are  now  giving  most  thorough  courses  in  liberal  cul- 
ture interpreted  in  terms  of  country  life.  The  vast 
service  of  these  schools  for  rural  welfare,  in  both 
intra-mural  and  extension  work,  can  hardly  be  over- 
estimated. 

The  Roosevelt  Commission  on  Country  Life 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  country  life  movement  has 
been  making  progress  for  years.  But  it  really  became 
a  national  issue  for  the  first  time  when  President 
Roosevelt  appointed  his  Country  Life  Commission. 
Though  greeted  by  some  as  an  unnecessary  effort  and 
handicapped  by  an  unfriendly  Congress  which  was 
playing  politics,  the  Commission  did  a  most  significant 
work.  Thirty  hearings  were  held  in  various  parts  of 
the  country  and  a  painstaking  investigation  was  con- 
ducted both  orally  and  by  mail,  the  latter  including  de- 
tailed information  and  suggestion  from  over  120,000 
people.  The  Commission's  report,  with  the  Presi- 
dent's illuminating  message,  presents  in  the  best  form 


52  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

available  the  real  meaning  of  the  country  life  move- 
ment. It  will  serve  our  purpose  well  to  quote  from 
this  report  a  few  significant  paragraphs: 

"  The  farmers  have  hitherto  had  less  than  their  full 
share  of  public  attention  along  the  lines  of  business 
and  social  life.  There  is  too  much  belief  among  all 
our  people  that  the  prizes  of  life  lie  away  from  the 
farms.  I  am  therefore  anxious  to  bring  before  the 
people  of  the  United  States  the  question  of  securing 
better  business  and  better  living  on  the  farm,  whether 
by  cooperation  among  the  farmers  for  buying,  selling 
and  borrowing;  by  promoting  social  advantages  and 
opportunities  in  the  country,  or  by  any  other  legitimate 
means  that  will  help  to  make  country  life  more  gain- 
ful, more  attractive,  and  fuller  of  opportunities,  pleas- 
ures and  rewards  for  the  men,  women  and  children  of 
the  farms." 

"  The  farm  grows  the  raw  material  for  the  food  and 
clothing  of  all  our  citizens;  it  supports  directly  al- 
most half  of  them;  and  nearly  half  of  the  children  of 
the  United  States  are  born  and  brought  up  on  the 
farms.  How  can  the  life  of  the  farm  family  be  made 
less  solitary,  fuller  of  opportunity,  freer  from  drudg- 
ery, more  comfortable,  happier  and  more  attractive? 
Such  a  result  is  most  earnestly  to  be  desired.  How 
can  life  on  the  farm  be  kept  on  the  highest  level,  and 
where  it  is  not  already  on  that  level,  be  so  improved, 
dignified  and  brightened  as  to  awaken  and  keep  alive 
the  pride  and  loyalty  of  the  farmer's  boys  and  girls, 
of  the  farmer's  wife  and  of  the  farmer  himself  ?  How 
can  a  compelling  desire  to  live  on  the  farm  be  aroused 
in  the  children  that  are  born  on  the  farm?    All  these 


COUNTRY   LIFE  OPTIMISM  53 

questions  are   of  vital  importance,   not  only  to  the 
farmer  but  to  the  whole  nation." — Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Its  Call  for  Rural  Leadership 

"  We  must  picture  to  ourselves  a  new  rural  social 
structure,  developed  from  the  strong  resident  forces  of 
the  open  country;  and  then  we  must  set  at  work  all 
the  agencies  that  will  tend  to  bring  this  about.  The 
entire  people  need  to  be  aroused  to  this  avenue  of  use- 
fulness. Most  of  the  new  leaders  must  be  farmers 
who  can  find  not  only  a  satisfactory  business  career 
on  the  farm,  but  who  will  throw  themselves  into  the 
service  of  upbuilding  the  community.  A  new  race  of 
teachers  is  also  to  appear  in  the  country.  A  new  rural 
clergy  is  to  be  trained.  These  leaders  will  see  the 
great  underlying  problem  of  country  life,  and  to- 
gether they  will  work,  each  in  his  own  field,  for  the 
one  goal  of  a  new  and  permanent  rural  civilization. 
Upon  the  development  of  this  distinctively  rural  civili- 
zation rests  ultimately  our  ability,  by  methods  of 
farming  requiring  the  highest  intelligence,  to  continue 
to  feed  and  clothe  the  hungry  nations;  to  supply  the 
city  and  metropolis  with  fresh  blood,  clean  bodies  and 
clear  brains  that  can  endure  the  strain  of  modern 
urban  life ;  and  to  preserve  a  race  of  men  in  the  open 
country  that,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  will  be 
the  stay  and  strength  of  the  nation  in  time  of  war 
and  its  guiding  and  controlling  spirit  in  time  of 
peace." 

"  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  many  young  men  and  women, 
fresh  from  our  schools  and  institutions  of  learning, 


54  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

and  quick  with  ambition  and  trained  intelligence,  will 
feel  a  new  and  strong  call  to  service." 

Its  Constructive  Program  for  Rural  Betterment 

The  Commission  suggested  a  broad  campaign  of 
publicity  on  the  whole  subject  of  rural  life,  until  there 
is  an  awakened  appreciation  of  the  necessity  of  giving 
this  phase  of  our  national  development  as  much  atten- 
tion as  has  been  given  to  other  interests.  They  urge 
upon  all  country  people  a  quickened  sense  of  responsi- 
bility to  the  community  and  to  the  state  in  the  con- 
serving of  soil  fertility,  and  the  necessity  for  diversi- 
fying farming  in  order  to  conserve  this  fertility.  The 
need  of  a  better  rural  society  is  suggested;  also  the 
better  safeguarding  of  the  strengfth  and  happiness  of 
the  farm  women ;  a  more  widespread  conviction  of  the 
necessity  for  organization,  not  only  for  economic  but 
for  social  purposes,  this  organization  to  be  more  or 
less  cooperative,  so  that  all  the  people  may  share 
equally  in  the  benefits  and  have  voice  in  the  essential 
affairs  of  the  community.  The  farmer  is  reminded 
that  he  has  a  distinct  natural  responsibility  toward  the 
farm  laborer,  in  providing  him  with  good  living  facili- 
ties and  in  helping  him  to  be  a  man  among  men ;  and 
all  the  rural  people  are  reminded  of  the  obligation  to 
protect  and  develop  the  natural  scenery  and  attrac- 
tiveness of  the  open  country. 

The  Country  Life  Commission  made  the  following 
specific  recommendations  to  Congress: 

The  encouragement  of  a  system  of  thoroughgoing 
surveys  of  all  agricultural  regions  in  order  to  take 
stock  and  to  collect  local  facts,  with  the  idea  of  pro- 


COUNTRY   LIFE  OPTIMISM  55 

viding  a  basis  on  which  to  develop  a  scientifically  and 
economically  sound  country  life. 

The  encouragement  of  a  system  of  extension  work 
in  rural  communities  through  all  the  land-grant  col- 
leges with  the  people  at  their  homes  and  on  their 
farms. 

A  thoroughgoing  investigation  by  experts  of  the 
middleman  system  of  handling  farm  products,  coupled 
with  a  general  inquiry  into  the  farmer's  disadvantages 
in  respect  to  taxation,  transportation  rates,  cooperative 
organizations  and  credit,  and  the  general  business 
system. 

An  inquiry  into  the  control  and  use  of  the  streams 
of  the  United  States  with  the  object  of  protecting  the 
people  in  their  ownership  and  of  saving  for  agricul- 
tural uses  such  benefits  as  should  be  reserved  for  such 
purposes. 

The  establishing  of  a  highway  engineering  service, 
or  equivalent  organization,  to  be  at  the  call  of  the 
states  in  working  out  effective  and  economical  high- 
way systems. 

The  establishing  of  a  system  of  parcels  post  and 
postal  savings  banks. 

The  providing  of  some  means  or  agency  for  the 
guidance  of  public  opinion  toward  the  development  of 
a  real  rural  society  that  shall  rest  directly  on  the  land. 

The  enlargement  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Education,  to  enable  it  to  stimulate  and  coordinate  the 
educational  work  of  the  nation. 

Careful  attention  to  the  farmers'  interests  in  legisla- 
tion on  the  tariff,  on  regulation  of  railroads,  control 
or  regulation  of  corporations  and  of  speculation,  legis- 


56  THE  CHALLENGE  Ol>    THE  COUNTRY 

lation  in  respect  to  rivers,  forests  and  the  utilization 
of  swamp  lands. 

Increasing  the  powers  of  the  Federal  government 
in  respect  to  the  supervision  and  control  of  the  public 
health. 

Providing  such  regulations  as  will  enable  the  states 
that  do  not  permit  the  sale  of  liquors  to  protect  them- 
selves from  traffic  from  adjoining  states. 

IV.    Institutions  and  Agencies  at  Work 

Organized  Forces  Making  for  a  Better  Rural  Life 

When  we  consider  the  vast  scope  of  the  Country 
Life  Movement  in  America  and  the  variety  of  agencies 
involved,  it  greatly  increases  our  rural  optimism.  The 
following  list  was  compiled  by  Dr.  L.  H.  Bailey  and 
is  the  most  complete  available. 

1.  Departments  of  Agriculture,  national  and  state. 

2.  Colleges  of  agriculture,  one  for  each  state,  territory,  or 
province. 

3.  Agricultural  experiment  stations,  in  nearly  all  cases  con« 
nected  with  the  colleges  of  agriculture. 

4.  The  public  school  system,  into  which  agriculture  is  now 
being  incorporated.  Normal  schools,  into  many  of  which  ag- 
riculture is  being  introduced. 

5.  Special  separate  schools  of  agriculture  and  household 
subjects. 

6.  Special  colleges,  as  veterinary  and  forestry  institutions. 

7.  Departments  or  courses  of  agriculture  in  general  or  old- 
line  colleges,  and  universities. 

8.  Farmers'  Institutes,  usually  conducted  by  colleges  of 
agriculture  or  by  boards  or  departments  of  agriculture. 

(The  above  institutions  may  engage  in  various  forms  of 
extension  work.) 


COUNTRY  LIFE  OPTIMISM  57 

9.  The  agricultural  press. 

10.  The  general  rural  newspapers. 

11.  Agricultural  and  horticultural   societies  of  all  kinds. 

12.  The  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  Farmers'  Educational  and 
Cooperative  Union,  and  other  national  organizations. 

13.  Business  societies  and  agencies,  many  of  them  co- 
operative. 

14.  Business  men's  associations  and  chambers  of  commerce 
in  cities  and  towns. 

15.  Local  political  organizations  (much  in  need  of  redirec- 
tion). 

16.  Civic   societies. 

17.  The  church. 

18.  The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  other  re- 
ligious organizations. 

19.  Women's  clubs   and  organizations,  of  many  kinds. 
X).  Fairs  and  expositions. 

21.  Rural  libraries. 

22.  Village  improvement  societies. 

23.  Historical  societies. 

24.  Public  health  regulation. 

25.  Fraternal  societies. 

26.  Musical  organizations. 

27.  Organizations  aiming  to  develop  recreation,  and  games 
and  play. 

28.  Rural  free  delivery  of  mail  (a  general  parcels  post  is  a 
necessity). 

29.  Postal  savings  banks. 

30.  Rural  banks  (often  in  need  of  redirection  in  their  re- 
lations to  the  development  of  the  open  country). 

31.  Labor  distributing  bureaus. 

32.  Good  thoroughfares. 

33.  Railroads,  and  trolley  extensions  (the  latter  needed  to 
pierce  the  remoter  districts  rather  than  merely  to  parallel 
railroads  and  to  connect  large  towns). 

34.  Telephones. 

35.  Auto-vehicles. 

36.  Country  stores  and  trading  places  (in  some  cases)'. 


58  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

ZJ.  Insurance  organizations. 

38.  Many  government  agencies  to  safeguard  the  people,  as 
public  service  commissions. 

39.  Books  on  agriculture  and  country  life. 

40.  Good  farmers,  living  on  the  land. 

It  is  through  the  activity  and  growing  cooperation 
of  these  various  agencies  that  the  new  rural  civilization 
is  now  rapidly  developing.  It  will  be  the  purpose  of 
our  next  chapter  to  describe  the  process.  Rural  prog- 
ress in  recent  decades  has  been  surprising  and  encour- 
aging in  many  quarters.  Men  of  faith  cannot  fail 
to  see  that  the  providence  of  God  is  now  using  these 
modern  forces  in  making  a  new  world  of  the  country. 
It  may  fairly  be  called  a  new  world  compared  with 
the  primitive  past.  Thus  our  rural  optimism  is  justi- 
fied, and  we  have  increasing  faith  in  the  future  of 
country  life  in  America. 


Test  Questions  on  Chapter  II 

I. — What  tribute  to  country  life  is  inscribed  on  the 
Washington  Union  Station?  l£  i?  a  just 
tribute  ? 

2. — Can  you  accept  the  "Country  Boy's  Creed  "  ? 

3. — Why  are  so  many  city  boys  studying  in  agricul- 
tural colleges?    How  is  it  in  your  own  state? 

4. — Discuss  some  of  the  disadvantages  and  drawbacks 
of  modern  city  life. 

5. — Why  is  country  life  attractive  to  you? 

6. — ^What  do  you  reckon  among  the  privileges  of 
living  in  the  country? 


lO, 


II 


12 


13 


COUNTRY   LIFE  OPTIMISM  59 

7. — Discuss  the  real  optimism  you  find  in  the  "  chal- 
lenge of  the  difficult  "  in  country  life. 

8. — How  do  you  explain  the  "  back-to-the-soil  move- 
ment" from  the  cities  to  suburban  and  rural 
villages  ? 

9. — Show  how  the  real  "  Country  Life  Movement " 
differs  from  this. 
Mention  some  of  the  early  plans  for  rural  wel- 
fare in  America. 
, — What  part  have  the  agricultural  colleges  had  in 

the  Country  Life  Movement? 
— When  did  rural  betterment  first  become  a  national 

issue  in  the  United  States? 
— What  definite  rural  needs  did  President  Roose- 
velt mention  in  his  message  to  the  Country 
Life  Commission? 

14. — What  special  call  for  rural  leadership  did  this 
Commission  voice? 

15. — What  do  you  think  about  the  program  for  rural 
progress  which  the  Commission  proposed  to 
Congress  ? 

16. — What  do  you  think  about  the  proposal  to  estab- 
lish a  parcels  post  ? 

17. — In  what  special  ways  do  the  farmers'  interests 
need  safeguarding? 

18. — Make  a  list  of  improvements  which  you  consider 
necessary  in  the  country  sections  you  know  the 
best 

19. — Name  as  many  agencies  as  you  can  which  are 
making  a  better  rural  life. 

20. — On  what  do  you  base  your  faith  in  the  new  rural 
civilization  ? 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  NEW  RURAL  CIVILIZATION 


CHAPTER  III 
The  New  Rural  Civilization 

Introductory:    Rural  Self-Respect  and  Progress 

I.     The  Triumph  Over  Isolation 

Conquering  the  great  enemy  of  rural  contentment. 

The  social  value  of  the  telephone. 

Good  roads,  the  index  of  civilization. 

Railroads,  steam  and  electric. 

The  rural  postal  service. 

The  automobile,  a  western  farm  necessity. 

,11.     The  Emancipation  from  Drudgery 

The  social  revolution  wrought  by  machinery. 
The  evolution  of  farm  machinery. 
Power  machinery  on  the  modem  farm. 
The  social  effects  of  lessened  drudgery. 

III.  Increased  Poptdar  Intelligence 

New  agencies  for  popular  education  among  the  farms. 

IV.  The  New  Social  Consciousness 

Group  loyalty  and  a  true  social  spirit. 

V.     The  Effect  of  the  New  Order  on  Rural  Instv- 
tions 

New  efficiency  in  the  modern  school,  church  and  farm. 
Rural  progress  and  the  providence  of  God. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  NEW  RURAL  CIVILIZATION 

FACTORS  THAT  ARE  MAKING  A  NEW  WORLD  IN  THE 
COUNTRY 

Introductory:  Rural  Self -Respect  and  Progress 

The  faith  of  the  country  life  movement  is  justified 
by  the  remarkable  rural  progress  of  the  past  genera- 
tion. City  life  has  been  revolutionized  by  inventive 
skill,  modern  machinery,  new  forms  of  wealth  and 
higher  standards  of  efficiency  and  comfort ;  but  mean- 
while this  marvelous  progress  has  not  been  confined 
to  cities.  To  be  sure  depleted  rural  districts,  drained 
of  their  best  blood,  have  not  kept  pace.  But  suburban 
sections  in  close  partnership  with  cities  have 
shared  the  speed  and  the  privileges  of  urban  progress, 
and  meanwhile  healthy,  self-sustaining  rural  counties, 
scorning  any  dependence  upon  cities  except  for 
market,  have  developed  great  prosperity  of  their  own 
and  a  remarkably  efficient  and  satisfying  life,  even 
though  population  may  have  somewhat  declined. 

This  is  so  radically  different  from  the  life  of  the 
past,  we  may  justly  call  it  a  new  rural  civilization.  It 
is  distinctly  a  rural  civilization,  not  merely  because  of 
its  characteristics,  but  because  it  is  a  triumph  of  rural 
leadership  and  the  product  of  rural  evolution,  by  for- 
tunate selection  and  survival  in  the  country  of  efficient 

63 


64  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

manhood  and  womanhood  best  adapted  to  cope  with 
their  environment. 

Thousands  who  failed  in  the  country  have  gone  to 
the  cities,  where  it  is  often  easier  for  incompetence  to 
eke  out  an  existence  by  living  on  casual  jobs.  Thou- 
sands of  others  have  found  better  success  in  the  city 
because  they  were  better  adapted  to  urban  life.  Often 
the  net  result  of  the  migration  has  been  profit  for  the 
country  community  which  has  held  its  best,  that  is,  the 
country  born  and  bred  best  adapted  to  be  happy  and 
successful  in  the  rural  environment. 

Where  you  find  the  new  rural  civilization  well  de- 
veloped, you  find  a  self-respecting  people,  prosperous 
and  happy,  keeping  abreast  of  the  times  in  all  im- 
portant human  interests,  keenly  alert  to  all  new  de- 
velopments in  agriculture  and  often  proud  of  their 
country  heritage.  Because  of  this  new  prosperity 
and  self-respect,  ridicule  of  the  "  countryman  "  has 
ceased  to  be  popular  among  intelligent  people.  The 
title  "  farmer  "  has  taken  on  an  utterly  new  meaning 
and  is  becoming  a  term  of  respect. 

All  this  marks  a  return  to  the  former  days,  before 
the  age  of  supercilious  cities,  when  most  of  the 
wealth  and  culture  and  family  pride  was  in  the  open 
country  and  the  village.  To  be  sure  in  some  sections 
of  America  this  frank  pride  in  rural  life  has  never 
ceased.  The  real  aristocracy  of  the  South  has  always 
been  mainly  rural.  Many  of  the  "  first  families  of 
Virginia  "  still  live  on  the  old  plantations  and  main- 
tain a  highly  self-respecting  life,  free  from  the  cor- 
rosive envy  of  city  conditions,  often  pitying  the  man 
whose  business  requires  him  to  live  in  the  crowded 


THE   NEW   RURAL  CIVILIZATION  65 

town,  and  rejoicing  in  the  freedom  and  the  whole- 
some joys  of  country  life.  The  hospitable  country 
mansions  of  the  South  still  remind  us  of  the  fame  of 
Westover,  Mount  Vernon  and  Monticello  as  centers 
of  social  grace  and  leadership;  and  the  most  select 
social  groups  in  Richmond  welcome  the  country  gentle- 
men and  women  of  refinement  from  these  country 
homes,  not  merely  because  of  the  honored  family 
names  they  bear,  but  because  they  themselves  are 
worthy  scions  of  a  continuously  worthy  rural  civiliza- 
tion. They  have  never  pitied  themselves  for  living 
in  the  country.  They  do  not  want  to  live  in  the  city. 
They  are  justly  proud  of  their  rural  heritage  and  their 
country  homes. 

I.     The  Triumph  over  Isolation. 

Conquering  the  Great  Enemy  of  Rural  Contentment 

The  depressing  effect  of  isolation  has  always  been 
the  most  serious  enemy  of  country  life  in  America. 
Nowhere  else  in  the  world  have  farm  homes  been  so 
scattered.  Instead  of  living  in  hamlets,  like  the  rest 
of  the  rural  world,  with  outlying  farms  in  the  open 
country,  American  pioneers  with  characteristic  inde- 
pendence have  lived  on  their  farms  regardless  of  dis- 
tance to  neighbors.  But  social  hungers,  especially  of 
the  young  people,  could  not  safely  be  so  disregarded, 
and  in  various  ways  the  social  instincts  have  had  their 
revenge.  Isolation  has  proved  to  be  the  curse  of  the 
country,  as  its  opposite,  congestion,  has  in  the  city. 
The  wonder  is  that  the  rural  population  of  the  country 
as  a  whole  has  steadily  gained,  nearly  doubling  in  a 


66  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

generation,  in  spite  of  this  handicap.  Obviously  the 
social  handicap  of  isolation  must  be  in  a  measure  over- 
come, if  country  life  becomes  permanently  satisfying. 
We  are  not  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  that  the  new 
rural  civilization  has  developed  many  means  of  inter- 
communication, bringing  the  remotest  country  dis- 
tricts into  vital  touch  with  the  world. 

Among  the  factors  that  have  revolutionized  the  life 
of  country  people  and  hastened  the  new  rural  civiliza- 
tion are  the  telephone,  the  daily  mail  service  by  rural 
free  delivery,  the  rapid  extension  of  good  roads,  the 
introduction  of  newspapers  and  magazines  and  farm 
journals,  and  traveling  libraries  as  well,  the  extension 
of  the  trolley  systems  throughout  the  older  states, 
and  the  rapid  introduction  of  automobiles,  especially 
through  the  West. 

In  these  various  ways  the  fruits  of  modern  in- 
ventive skill  and  enterprise  have  enriched  country  life 
and  have  banished  forever  the  extreme  isolation  which 
used  to  vex  the  farm  household  of  the  past.  The  farm 
now  is  conveniently  near  the  market.  The  town 
churches  and  stores  and  schools  are  near  enough  to 
the  farms.  The  world's  daily  messages  are  brought 
to  the  farmer's  fireside.  And  the  voice  of  the  near- 
est neighbor  may  be  heard  in  the  room,  though  she 
may  live  a  mile  away. 

The  Social  Value  of  the  Telephone 

Among  these  modern  blessings  in  the  country  home, 
one  of  the  most  significant  is  the  telephone.  A  busi- 
ness necessity  in  the  city,  it  is  a  great  social  asset 
in  the  rural  home,  like  an  additional  member  of  the 


THE  NEW   RURAL  CIVILIZATION  6/ 

family  circle.  It  used  to  be  said,  though  often  ques- 
tioned, that  farmers*  wives  on  western  farms  fur- 
nished the  largest  quota  of  insane  asylum  inmates,  be- 
cause of  the  monotony  and  loneliness  of  their  life. 
The  tendency  was  especially  noticeable  in  the  case  of 
Scandinavian  immigrant  women,  accustomed  in  the 
old  home  to  the  farm  hamlet  with  its  community  life. 

To-day  the  farmer's  wife  suffers  no  such  isola- 
tion. To  be  sure  the  wizards  of  invention  have  not 
yet  given  us  the  teleblepone,  by  which  the  faces  of  dis- 
tant friends  can  be  made  visible;  but  the  telephone 
brings  to  us  that  wonderfully  personal  element,  the 
human  voice,  the  best  possible  substitute  for  the  per- 
sonal presence.  Socially,  the  telephone  is  a  priceless 
boon  to  the  country  home,  especially  for  the  women, 
who  have  been  most  affected  by  isolation  in  the  past. 
They  can  now  lighten  the  lonely  hours  by  a  chat  with 
neighbors  over  household  matters,  or  even  have  a 
neighborhood  council,  with  five  on  the  line,  to  settle 
some  question  of  village  scandal!  All  sorts  of  com- 
munity doings  are  speedily  passed  from  ear  to  ear. 
Details  of  social  plans  for  church  or  grange  are  con- 
veniently arranged  by  wire.  Symptoms  are  described 
by  an  anxious  mother  to  a  resourceful  grandmother 
and  a  remedy  prescribed  which  will  cure  the  baby  be- 
fore the  horse  could  even  be  harnessed.  Or  at  any 
hour  of  the  day  or  night  the  doctor  in  the  village  can 
be  quickly  summoned  and  a  critical  hour  saved,  which 
means  the  saving  of  precious  life. 

On  some  country  lines  a  general  ring  at  six  o'clock 
calls  all  who  care  to  hear  the  daily  market  quotations ; 
and  at  noon  the  weather  report  for  the  day  is  issued. 


68  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

If  the  weather  is  not  right,  the  gang  of  men  coming 
from  the  village  can  be  intercepted  by  phone.  Or  if 
the  quotations  are  not  satisfactory,  a  distant  city  can 
be  called  on  the  wire  and  the  day's  shipment  sent  to 
the  highest  bidder  —  saving  money,  time,  and  miles 
of  travel. 

All  things  considered  the  telephone  is  fully  as  valu- 
able in  the  country  as  in  the  city  and  its  development 
has  been  just  as  remarkable,  especially  in  the  middle 
West  where  thousands  of  independent  rural  lines  have 
been  extended  in  recent  years,  at  very  low  expense. 
In  1902  there  were  21,577  rural  lines  in  the  United 
States,  with  a  total  length  of  259,306  miles  of  wires, 
and  266,969  rural  phones. 

Good  Roads,  the  Index  of  Civilization 

When  John  Frederick  Oberlin  began  his  remarkable 
work  of  community  building  in  the  stagnant  villages 
of  the  Vosges  Mountains,  his  very  first  move  was  to 
build  a  road.  The  status  of  any  civilization  is  fairly 
clearly  indicated  by  the  condition  of  the  highways. 
The  first  sign  of  rural  decay  in  a  discouraged  com- 
munity has  often  been  the  neglect  of  the  thorough- 
fares. One  of  the  widespread  signs  of  rural  prog- 
ress is  the  recent  attention  given  to  good  roads.  In 
1892  the  Good  Roads  Associatic«l  was  formed.  In 
the  previous  year  the  first  state  aid  for  good  road 
building  was  granted,  and  since  then  state  after  state 
has  appropriated  millions  of  dollars  for  this  purpose. 
The  proposal  that  a  great  macadam  road  be  built  by 
Congress  from  Washington  to  Gettysburg,  as  a  me- 
morial to  President  Lincoln,  whether  a  wise  proposi- 


THE  NEW  RURAL  CIVILIZATION  69 

tion  or  not,  shows  how  prominent  this  subject  has 
finally  become,  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation. 

Progressive  farmers  have  discovered  that  a  bad 
road  is  a  tax  upon  every  ton  of  produce  hauled  to 
market;  that  in  effect  it  lengthens  the  three  mile  dis- 
tance to  ten ;  that  the  trip  requires  three  hours  instead 
of  one ;  and  that  a  good  macadam  road,  or  some  form 
of  paving,  varying  with  the  nearness  of  materials,  pays 
for  itself  again  and  again,  in  the  saving  of  time  and 
money,  and  wear  and  tear  on  rolling  stock  and  teams. 
The  social  effects  of  good  roads  are  almost  as  clear  as 
the  industrial  benefits.  There  is  more  social  coopera- 
tion. People  go  oftener  to  town,  they  gather  more 
easily  at  church  and  social  functions,  and  the  intermin- 
gling means  better  acquaintance  and  more  helpful 
friendships.  Better  business,  better  social  life,  better 
neighborhoods,  follow  the  trail  of  better  roads  —  and 
a  far  better  chance  for  the  country  church. 

Railroads,  Steam  and  Electric 

It  is  hard  for  us  to  imagine  a  world  without  rail- 
roads! Yet  before  1830  all  long  distance  travel  was 
by  stage  coach  or  by  water.  The  world-view  of  most 
men  was  very  tiny  and  their  mental  outlook  corre- 
spondingly narrow.  Farm  life  was  seriously  re- 
stricted by  the  fact^  that  a  distant  market  for  most 
goods  was  impossible.  It  cost  $10  per  ton  per  hun- 
dred miles  to  haul  merchandise  to  market,  a  tax  which 
only  high-grade  goods  could  stand. 

The  triumph  of  the  railroads  in  conquering  the  con- 
tinent has  been  one  of  the  national  marvels.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  though  the  railroad  has  helped  to  concentrate 


70  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

population  in  the  cities,  it  has  also  served  in  a  won- 
derful way  to  develop  the  country  communities,  to 
open  up  whole  sections  for  settlement,  furnishing  a 
market  and  a  base  of  supplies,  making  extensive  agri- 
culture possible  and  distant  commerce  profitable; 
meanwhile  serving  as  main  arteries  of  communication, 
with  a  constant  influx  of  fresh  world  thought  and 
life. 

The  interurban  trolleys  are  doing  much  that  the 
steam  roads  cannot  do,  connecting  vast  rural  sections 
which  hitherto  have  been  aside  from  the  beaten  paths 
of  life.  The  relative  cheapness  of  building  these 
electric  lines,  and  the  less  expense  for  power,  equip- 
ment and  maintenance  make  their  further  extension 
probable  as  well  as  necessary  for  years  to  come. 
Their  frequent  trips,  the  near  approach  to  thousands 
of  farm  homes,  their  short  stops  and  low  rates  make 
them  particularly  serviceable  for  country  people. 
"  No  king  one  hundred  years  ago,"  says  Dr.  Roads, 
"  could  have  had  a  coach,  warmed  in  winter,  lighted 
up  to  read  at  night,  running  smoothly  with  scarcely  a 
jolt,  and  more  swiftly  than  his  fastest  horses. 
Through  the  loving  providence  of  the  heavenly 
Father,  his  poorest  children  have  them  now."  *  It  is 
too  early  yet  to  estimate  rightly  the  contribution  the 
trolley  has  made  to  the  new  rural  civilization.  It  has 
doubtless  lessened  in  some  respects  the  prestige  of  the 
village  and  especially  of  the  village  stores;  and  has 
brought  in  some  evils,  but  it  has  interwoven,  with  its 
rapid  shuttles,  the  city  and  the  country,  vastly  enrich- 
ing country  life  with  broadened  opportunity  and 
making  thousands  more  contented  to  live  in  country 

»"  Rural  Christendom,"  Roads,  p.  84. 


THE   NEW    RURAL   CIVILIZATION  71 

homes,  because  of  lessened  isolation,  as  well  as  de- 
veloping the  suburban  village,  the  most  rapidly  grow- 
ing of  all  communities  in  America  to-day. 

The  Rural  Postal  Service 

The  day  of  the  moss-back  who  went  for  his  mail 
once  every  week,  the  same  day  he  got  shaved  and  sold 
his  butter,  is  gone  forever,  so  far  as  most  of  our 
country  is  concerned.  To-day  about  20,000,000  of 
our  rural  neighbors  receive  their  mail  at  their  own 
farms,  delivered  by  Uncle  Sam's  messengers ;  and  this 
great  change  has  occurred  in  a  decade  and  a  half. 
In  1897  $40,000  was  the  appropriation  by  Congress  for 
the  experiment  in  rural  free  delivery.  In  1909  the 
expense  was  about  $36,000,000,  and  on  June  i  of  that 
year  there  were  40,637  rural  routes,  nearly  all  of  them 
daily  service.  This  rural  army  of  the  civil  service  is 
almost  as  large  as  the  whole  military  force  of  the 
country  and  possibly  quite  as  useful.  It  is  rapidly 
driving  from  our  rural  homes  the  specters  of  igno- 
rance, superstitution,  provincialism  and  prejudice,  and 
the  positive  good  accomplished  cannot  be  estimated. 
Letter  writing  makes  and  keeps  friends.  Thousands 
of  farmers'  families  have  joined  The  League  of  the 
Golden  Pen  in  recent  years.  Their  mail  collected  and 
distributed  doubles  in  four  or  five  years  after  the 
local  R.  F.  D.  is  started. 

Among,-Jthe  new  civilizing  factors  is  the  metropoli- 
tan daily,  bringing  to  millions  of  farmers  the  daily 
stimulus  to  thought  and  action  which  the  continued 
story  of  the  throbbing  life  of  the  struggling  world 
unfailingly  brings.  On  one  rural  route  the  number 
of  daily  papers   delivered  increased  in  three  years 


72  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

from  thirteen  to  113.  The  great  interests  of  human- 
ity are  now  intelligently  discussed  by  the  farmer  and 
his  boys  as  they  go  about  their  work,  and  the  broaden- 
ing of  interests  is  what  prevents  stagnation  and  en- 
riches life. 

We  are  not  surprised  to  find  a  wonderful  increase 
of  magazines  and  other  periodical  literature  in  the 
country,  especially  the  farm  journals  which  have  at- 
tained such  influence  and  excellence.  R.  F.  D.  did  it. 
Likewise  the  remarkable  increase  of  shopping  by  mail 
is  due  to  the  same  cause.  Though  many  such  pur- 
chases are  doubtless  foolishly  made,  it  is  undoubtedly 
true  that  even  the  great  catalogs  of  mail-order 
houses  with  their  description  of  many  of  the  comforts 
of  modern  civilization  have  been  of  great  educative 
value  and  have  stimulated  the  ambition  of  countless 
ccuntry  homes  for  an  improved  scale  of  living. 

A  recent  rural  survey  of  Ohio  revealed  the  fact  that 
pianos  or  organs  were  found  in  25.9%  of  the  300,000 
rural  homes  of  the  state,  though  only  4.8%  had  bath 
tubs !  We  venture  to  guess  that  many  of  these  musical 
instruments  were  bought  by  mail,  after  the  family 
had  for  many  days  studied  the  alluring  catalogs  of 
Chicago  mail-order  houses.  Incidentally,  it  would  be 
well  for  Chicago  to  sell  more  bath  tubs!  The  new 
rural  civilization  is  rapidly  requiring  them. 

The  Automobile,  a  Western  Farm  Necessity 

Often  merely  a  luxurious  plaything  in  the  city,  a 
saucy  bit  of  flaunting  pride  particularly  irritating  to 
envious  neighbors,  the  automobile  finds  great  useful- 
ness in  the  country.    The  average  village  as  yet  cares 


THE  NEW  RURAL  CIVILIZATION  75 

little  for  it ;  but  the  western  farmer  in  the  open  coun- 
try is  finding  it  almost  a  necessity.  The  proportion 
of  autos  to  farms,  in  the  prosperous  corn  and  wheat 
belt,  is  very  surprising.  Low  salaried  tradesmen  in 
the  cities  have  mortgaged  their  homes  to  buy  the 
coveted  automobile;  the  thrifty  farmer  has  also  been 
known  to  do  the  same,  but  with  vastly  better  reason. 
A  certain  bank  in  a  Mississippi  valley  state  tried  to 
stop  the  withdrawal  of  funds  for  the  purchase  of  ma- 
chines, the  vast  sums  being  withdrawn  from  the  state 
for  this  purpose  had  become  so  alarming;  but  it  was 
like  damming  Niagara!  In  a  prosperous  little  farm 
community  in  Iowa  with  only  a  few  scattering  fam- 
ilies, there  were  nine  automobiles  last  summer;  and 
the  situation  is  probably  typical  of  prosperous  western 
communities.  A  reliable  authority  vouches  for  the 
fact  that  179  automobiles  were  sold  in  Cawker  City, 
Kansas,  in  1911.  The  population  of  the  "city"  in 
1910  was  870.  Obviously  most  of  these  machines 
must  have  been  distributed  among  the  farms  in  the 
outlying  country.  The  village  itself  had  last  year  but 
twenty-one  automobiles. 

Quite  likely  the  per  capita  number  of  machines  is 
greater  in  our  great  agricultural  states  than  in  the 
cities.  It  is  needless  to  emphasize  the  social  possi- 
bilities of  this  newest  of  our  agencies  for  the  newer 
rural  civilization.  As  a  means  of  communication  it 
outstrips  all  but  the  telephone.  It  brings  farm  life 
right  up  to  the  minute  for  progressiveness,  with  a  par- 
donable pride  in  being  able  to  keep  pace  with  the  city. 
It  annihilates  distance  and  makes  isolation  a  myth; 
and  as  the  expense  becomes  less  and  less  with  every 


74  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

year,  the  time  is  soon  coming  when  every  farmer  who 
can  now  afford  the  ordinary  farm  machinery  will  be 
able  also  to  possess  this  newest  symbol  of  rural  pros- 
perity. 

II.    The  Emancipation  from  Drudgery. 

The  Social  Revolution  Wrought  by  Machinery 

Next  to  the  great  social  transformation  caused  by 
these  modern  means  of  fighting  isolation  comes  the 
emancipation  from  drudgery  brought  in  by  farm  ma- 
chinery. Labor  saving  machinery  is  just  as  much 
a  feature  of  modern  civilization  in  the  country  as  it 
is  in  the  city.  Machinery,  by  developing  the  factory 
system,  centralized  industry  and  produced  the  great 
cities,  attracting  thousands  from  the  farms  to  man  the 
looms.  But  this  is  only  half  the  story.  Meanwhile 
the  invention  of  agricultural  machinery  made  it  pos- 
sible for  the  farm  work  of  the  country  to  be  done  by 
fewer  men.  Therefore  the  farm  population  of  the 
United  States  decreased  from  47.6%  in  1870  to  35.7^ 
in  1900,  representing  a  change  from  agriculture  to 
other  emplo)mients  by  three  and  a  half  millions  of 
people.  Meanwhile,  comparing  the  average  value  of 
farms,  and  the  relative  purchasing  power  of  money, 
the  average  farmer  was  42%  better  off  at  the  end  of 
the  century  than  fifty  years  before.'' 

The  tendency  of  farm  machinery  to  throw  men  out 
of  employment  and  send  many  to  the  city  is  shown 
by  these  facts  from  the  thirteenth  annual  report  of  the 
U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Labor.     The  sowing  of  small 

•  H.  W.  Quaintance.  in  Cyc.  of  Am.  Agric.  IV;  p.   109. 


THE  NEW  RURAL  CIVILIZATION  75 

grains  is  accomplished  nowadays  by  machine  methods 
in  from  one-fifth  to  one-fourth  the  time  formerly  re- 
quired for  hand-sowing.  One  man  with  a  moder 
harvester  can  now  do  the  work  of  eight  men  usin; 
the  old  methods,  while  the  modern  threshing  machiae 
has  displaced  fourteen  to  twenty-nine  farm  laborer 
Machinery  displaces  the  labor  or  increases  the  cro 
according  to  circumstances;  but  usually  both.  It  has 
greatly  increased  the  output  of  farm  products,  some- 
times reduced  prices,  and  vastly  increased  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  workers.  Of  nine  of  the  more  impor- 
tant crops,  the  average  increase  in  labor  efficiency  in 
the  past  two  generations  has  been  500%,  while  in  the 
case  of  barley  it  was  over  2,200%,  and  nearly  the 
same  for  wheat.' 

The  Evolution  of  Farm  Machinery 

The  great  incentive  in  America  for  our  astonishing 
development  of  farm  machinery  has  been  our  cheap 
lands  and  our  relatively  high  wages.  But  the  noble  de- 
sire to  rise  above  the  slavery  of  drudgery  has  con- 
stantly had  its  influence.  American  ambition  has 
combined  with  Yankee  ingenuity  to  produce  this  won- 
derful story.  The  plow,  that  greatest  of  all  imple- 
ments, has  passed  through  constant  changes,  from 
the  crude  simplicity  of  early  days  to  the  giant  steam 
gang-plow  of  the  present. 

The  first  steel  plow  was  made  in  1837  from  an  old 
saw  blade!  The  first  mowing  machine  was  patented 
in  183 1.  Imperfect  reapers  appeared  two  years  later 
and  were  made  practicable  by  1840,  one  of  the  tri- 

*  Publication  of  the  Amer,  Econ.  Assn.  V;  pp.  817-831. 


y^  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

umphs  of  modern  industry.  Meanwhile  threshing 
machines  began  to  come  into  use  and  separaters  were 
combined  with  them  by  1850.  The  first  steam 
thresher  appeared  in  i860. 

It  was  a  dramatic  moment  in  history  when  at  the 
Paris  Exhibition  of  '55  a  hopeless  contest  was  waged 
between  six  sturdy  workmen  with  the  old  hand  flail, 
and  threshing  machines  from  four  different  countries. 
In  the  half-day  test  the  six  men  threshed  out  by  hand 
sixty  liters  of  Avheat;  while  a  single  American  with 
his  machine  threshed  740  liters  and  easily  beat  all  con- 
testants. 

By  the  time  of  the  civil  war  great  saving  of  labor 
had  been  effected  by  the  invention  of  the  corn  planter 
and  the  two-horse  cultivator.  By  1865,  about  250,- 
000  reaping  machines  were  in  use  and  by  1880  our 
country  had  become  the  greatest  exporter  of  wheat  in 
the  world.  The  invention  of  the  twine-binder  made 
this  possible,  making  practicable  the  raising  of  greater 
crops  of  wheat;  for  as  Professor  T.  N.  Carver  says: 
"  The  harvesting  of  the  grain  crop  is  the  crucial  point. 
The  farmer  has  to  ask  himself,  not,  '  How  much  grain 
can  I  grow  ? '  but,  '  How  much  can  I  harvest  with 
such  help  as  I  can  get  ?  "*  By  the  late  seventies  the 
steam  thresher  was  fast  supplanting  horse-power  and 
a  great  impetus  was  given  wheat  growing  when  the 
roller  process  for  manufacturing  flour  was  invented. 
By  this  process  better  flour  was  made  from  spring 
wheat  than  had  ever  been  produced  from  the  winter 
grain,  and  this  made  Minneapolis  the  Flour  City,  in 
place  of  Rochester. 

In   rapid   succession   the   check-rower,   permitting 


THE   NEW   RURAL  CIVILIZATION  'JJ 

cross  cultivation  of  corn,  the  lister,  for  deep  plow- 
ing and  planting,  the  weeder,  the  riding  cultivator,  the 
disk  harrow  and  other  kindred  machines  greatly 
helped  the  production  of  corn,  our  greatest  crop. 
Qieese  and  butter  factories  and  improvements  in 
dairy  methods  helped  to  make  Americans  probably 
the  largest  consumers  of  butter  in  the  world.  The 
Babcock  test  for  determining  the  butter  fat,  and  the 
centrifugal  separater  for  extracting  the  cream,  were 
most  important. 

The  Evolution  of  the  Plow 

In  the  last  quarter  century  the  improvement  on 
these  earlier  farm  machines  has  been  remarkable  and 
elaborate.  One  of  the  most  wonderful  continued 
stories  of  human  ingenuity  is  the  evolution  of  the 
plow,  from  the  historic  crooked  stick  that  merely 
tickled  the  surface  of  the  ground  (and  is  still  used  in 
many  countries)  to  the  steam  gang-plow  which  tears 
up  the  earth  at  an  astonishing  pace,  and  thoroughly 
prepares  the  soil  meanwhile.  When  with  a  gang- 
plow  and  five  horses,  it  became  possible  for  a  man  to 
plow  five  acres  a  day,  it  was  supposed  the  acme  of 
progress  was  attained.  But  soon  steam  traction  was 
introduced  on  the  prairies  and  two  men  were  able 
thus  to  plow  a  dozen  furrows  at  once  and  cover 
thirty  to  forty  acres  in  a  day. 

Now,  however,  a  iio-horse  power  machine,  a  mon- 
ster of  titanic  power  and  expert  skill,  plows  a  strip 
thirty  feet  wide,  as  fast  as  a  man  could  comfortably 
walk,  and  also  does  the  harrowing  and  sowing  simulta- 
neously.   This  completes  the  work  of  plowing  and 


78  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

planting  at  the  rate  of  80  to  100  acres  in  a  working 
day,  or  under  favorable  conditions  even  twelve  acres 
an  hour,  thus  doing  the  work  of  forty  to  fifty  teams 
and  men.  Yet  millions  of  people  in  the  cities  are  not 
yet  awake  to  the  fact  that  we  have  a  new  rural  civiliza- 
tion! When  we  think  of  the  thousands  of  men  who 
have  patiently  experimented  and  labored  to  perfect 
the  plow,  many  of  them  now  unknown,  we  must  con- 
sider the  modern  planting  machine  not  an  individual 
but  a  race  triumph.  Among  these  innumerable  ex- 
perimenters was  no  less  a  man  than  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, gentleman  farmer,  who  gave  months  and  years 
of  study  in  nature's  laboratory  to  the  single  problem 
of  perfecting  the  moldboard  of  the  plow,  that  it  might 
do  the  most  thorough  work  with  the  least  unnecessary 
friction. 

Likewise  the  harrow,  so  simple  in  our  grandfathers' 
days,  has  remarkably  developed,  and  we  have  peg- 
tooth,  spring-tooth,  disk,  spader  and  pulverizer  har- 
rows, drawn  by  horses  or  mules,  which  follow  the 
plow  with  a  four-  to  twenty- foot  swath.  But  here 
again  the  city  mechanic  must  tip  his  hat  to  the  prairie 
farmer  who  uses  twentieth  century  machinery,  for  we 
have  now  a  harrowing  machine  100  feet  in  reach  which 
harrows  thirty  acres  in  an  hour  or  a  whole  section  of 
land  in  about  two  days !  These  astonishing  facts  are 
particularly  staggering  to  the  small  farmer,  but  they 
need  discourage  only  the  incompetent.  They  have  of 
course  combined  small  farms  into  great  enterprises, 
and  have  driven  some  slovenly  farmers  from  poor 
soil.  The  pace  is  so  fast.  But  specialized  farming 
•and  intensive  farming  have  their  own  successes  to- 


THE   NEW  RURAL  CIVILIZATION  79 

day  as  well  as  extensive  farming,  and  it  all  tends  to 
elevate  the  whole  scale  of  living  and  standard  of 
efficiency  upon  the  farms;  in  short  producing  a  new 
rural  civilization.* 

Power  Machinery  on  the  Modern  Farm 

A  most  interesting  chapter  in  the  story  of  human  in- 
dustry is  the  evolution  of  power  machinery.  Grad- 
ually the  drudgery  of  hand  labor  has  been  relieved 
by  water  power,  horse  power,  steam  power,  wind 
power  and  the  modern  gasolene  and  electricity.  The 
giant  gang-plow  with  its  iio-horsepower  traction 
engine  is  a  prairie  triumph,  but  it  has  very  little  in- 
terest for  the  ordinary  farmer  on  an  average  farm. 
Yet  even  the  small  farmer  finds  the  gasolene  portable 
engine  wonderfully  useful  and  a  great  labor-saver  at 
slight  expense. 

Perhaps  the  surest  way  for  a  farmer  to  interest  his 
discontented  boy,  who  is  crazy  for  the  city,  is  to  buy 
a  gasolene  engine.    A  machine  shop  on  the  farm  is  a 

•  The  financial  results  of  these  improvements  in  farm  machinery  will 
not  at  all  surprise  us.  It  follows  as  a  matter  of  course  that  machinery 
has  greatly  reduced  the  cost  of  production.  A  leading  agricultural 
engineer  at  Washington  is  authority  for  this  comparison.  In  1830 
a  bushel  of  wheat  represented  over  three  hours  of  labor;  while  in 
1896  only  ten  minutes;  making  a  saving  in  the  labor  cost  of  produc- 
ing wheat  equal  to  the  difference  between  17  3-4  and  33  1-2  cents.  In 
1850  it  required  4  \-2  hours  labor  to  produce  a  bushel  of  corn;  while 
in  1894  it  was  reduced  to  41  minutes.  Likewise  the  labor  represented 
in  a  ton  of  baled  bay  has  been  reduced  from  35  1-2  hours  in  i860 
to  II  1-3  in  1894;  reducing  the  labor  cost  of  a  ton  of  hay  from  I3  to 
$1.29. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  the  use  of  ag^ricultural  machinery  saved 
in  human  labor  in  this  country  alone,  in  the  year  1899,  the  vast  sum 
of  about  seven  hundred  million  dollars,  with  doubtless  a  great  increase 
the  past  decade.  No  wonder  American  farmers  are  spending  a  hundred 
million  dollars  a  vear  for  their  implements,  and  for  this  very  reason 
have  outstripped  the  farmers  of  the  world,  not  only  in  the  vast 
amount  of  production,  but  also  in  the  increased  comforts  and  satisfac- 
tions   of   farm   life. 


80  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

great  educator  and  a  great  resource  for  the  boy  as  well 
as  a  money-saver  for  the  farmer.  But  best  of  all  is  the 
portable  engine,  which  not  only  relieves  the  boy  of  the 
most  back-breaking  labor  but  gives  him  the  keen  de- 
light of  controlling  power, —  a  mighty  fascination  for 
every  normal  boy. 

The  most  recent  publication  of  a  great  farm  ma- 
chinery trust  entitled  "  Three  Hundred  Years  of  Power 
Development,"  dismisses  electricity  as  impracticable 
for  farm  uses  because  of  its  expense;  and  says  of 
wind  power :  "  This  power  at  best  is  unreliable  and 
usually  unavailable  when  most  needed."  Yet  the 
writer  has  discovered  a  1,120-acre  farm  in  North  Da- 
kota where  electricity  is  generated  by  wind,  and  wind 
power  is  stored  in  electricity  at  a  very  slight  cost,  and 
it  meets  many  of  the  mechanical  needs  of  this  pros- 
perous farm.  So  far  as  known  this  is  the  first  in- 
stance of  a  storage-battery  electric  plant  upon  a  farm, 
the  battery  being  charged  by  wind  power!  The  in- 
genious older  son,  now  a  graduate  of  the  State  School 
of  Science,  experimented  with  this  plan  all  through  his 
boyhood  and  is  now  securing  patent  rights  to  protect 
his  invention.*  He  discovered  from  the  U.  S.  Weather 
Bureau  reports  the  mean  wind  velocity  which  could 
be  depended  upon  at  Mooreton,  N.  D.,  and  built  his 
windmill  accordingly.  An  ingenious  automatic  regu- 
lator protects  the  battery  from  pver-charging.  The 
electricity  provides  75  lights  for  house,  barn  and  other 
farm  buildings ;  power  for  wheat  elevator,  all  laundry 
machinery,  washing,  ironing,  centrifugal  drying; 
cream  separater  and  other  dairy  machinery;  electric 

*  George  Maoikowske,  Mooreton,  N.   D. 


THE    NEW    RURAL   CIVILIZATION  8l 

cook  Stove,  et  cetera,  in  the  farm  kitchen ;  electric  fans 
for  the  summer  and  bed  warmers  in  the  winter ;  electric 
pumps  for  irrigating,  and  even  an  electric  vulcanizer 
for  repairing  the  auto  tires!  This  is  the  way  one 
farm  boy  succeeded  in  harnessing  the  fierce  prairie 
winds  and  compelling  them  to  do  his  drudgery. 

The  Social  Effect  of  Lessened  Drudgery 

To  the  mechanic  the  story  of  agricultural  machinery 
suggests  the  miracle  of  the  conquest  of  nature  by  hu- 
man ingenuity  and  perfected  mechanical  skill.  To  the 
economist  it  suggests  fascinating  new  problems  of 
production  and  consumption,  and  the  new  values  of 
land,  labor  and  capital.  To  the  speculator  it  means 
a  greatly  enlarged  field  for  manipulation  and  wilder 
dreams  of  profit.  But  to  the  country  lover  rejoicing  in 
the  new  rural  prosperity  it  first  of  all  suggests  that 
from  thousands  of  progessive  farms  has  the  curse 
of  drudgery  been  lifted." 

Hard,  grinding,  back-breaking  latjor,  often  with 
surprisingly  meager  returns,  and  in  some  seasons  with 
total  crop  failure,  has  been  in  the  past  the  bitter  lot 
of  the  husbandman.  Many  a  farm  boy  has  thus  had 
the  courage  crushed  out  of  him  in  early  teens  and  has 
ignominiously  retreated  to  the  city.  Many  a  farm- 
er's wife  has  grown  prematurely  old  and  has  slaved 
herself  to  death,  leaving  her  children  and  her  home 
to  a  younger  successor.  These  conditions  of  course 
still  continue  even  in  the  new  age.  Great  numbers  of 
farmers  are  still  hopelessly  poor,  many  of  them  need- 
lessly  so,   through   ignorance,   slovenly  management, 

•See  Genesis  3:17-19. 


82  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

laziness  or  willful  unprogressiveness.  But  the  rural 
moss-back  is  being  laid  upon  the  shelf  with  other  fos- 
sils and  soon  will  possess  only  historical  interest. 
Great  organized  effort  is  being  made  to  redeem  him 
by  the  gospel  of  scientific  farming  before  he  dies,  and 
the  effort  is  by  no  means  vain. 

III.     Increased  Popular  Intelligence. 

The  new  rural  civilization,  however,  is  by  no  means 
a  mere  matter  of  methods.  The  farmer  himself  has 
been  growing  mere  intelligent.  County  agricultural 
societies,  first  organized  in  1810,  set  the  farmers  to 
thinking.  Many  farm  ^  journals  have  contributed 
widely  to  the  farmers'  education.  But  in  the  past 
twenty  years  many  agencies  have  united  in  what  has 
been  a  great  rural  uplift.  The  government's  depart- 
ment of  agriculture,  the  experiment  stations  estab- 
lished in  each  state,  the  better-farming  trains  with 
their  highly  educative  exhibits,  the  countless  farmers' 
institutes  for  fruitful  discussions,  the  extension  work 
of  state  universities,  the  local  and  traveling  libraries, 
and  especially  the  agricultural  colleges,  through  their 
short  courses  in  the  winter,  their  stimulating  and  in- 
structive bulletins,  their  great  variety  of  extension 
service  through  their  territory,  are  among  the  many 
agencies  for  popular  education  in  country  districts 
which  are  becoming  thoroughly  appreciated  and  highly 
effective.  In  a  great  variety  of  ways  a  genuine  rural 
culture  is  being  developed,  with  its  own  special  char- 
acteristics and  enduring  values.  All  this  is  helping 
to  make  country  life  vastly  worth  while. 


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This  picture  illustrates  school  garden  work  at  the  Macdonald  Con- 
solidated School,  Guelph,  Canada,  E.  A.  Howes,  Principal.  The  time  is 
June. 


The   same   garden   at   harvest   time,    in    September. 


THE  NEW   RURAL  CIVILIZATION  83 

This  increased  culture  among-  country  people  is  a 
great  factor  in  the  new  rural  civilization  which  must 
be  given  due  consideration.  It  is  this  which  is  over- 
coming rural  narrowness  and  provincialism.  Herein 
is  great  hope  for  the  future  of  the  open  country  as  a 
worthy  home  for  people  of  the  finest  tastes  and  of 
genuine  culture.  This  important  topic  will  be  consid- 
ered in  detail  in  Chapter  VI,  under  Education  for 
Country  Life. 

IV.    The  New  Social  Consciousness. 

In  these  days  when  the  gospel  of  class  conscious- 
ness is  being  preached  by  labor  union  leaders,  as  requi- 
site to  success,  the  farmers  may  well  heed  the  lesson. 
Let  them  stop  the  luxury  of  self-pity  and  discover  a 
genuine  pride  in  their  life  calling.  Thousands  do  not 
in  the  least  need  this  exhortation.  They  rejoice  in 
their  privilege  as  scientific  tillers  of  the  soil.  They 
are  also  discovering  a  real  social  spirit  among  them- 
selves which  speaks  well  for  the  future.  As  a  class 
they  are  claiming  their  rights  with  a  new  insistence 
and  a  new  dignity  which  is  commanding  a  respectful 
hearing. 

Legislatures  and  the  national  Congress  are  taking 
notice;  likewise  the  railroads;  but  the  middleman  re- 
mains unterrified,  secure  in  his  speculative  castle.  He 
may  look  well  to  his  profits  however,  for  the  days  of 
organized  agriculture  are  not  far  distant.  The  farm- 
ers are  getting  together  for  business  and  are  com- 
paring notes  with  the  consumers.  The  producer  finds 
he  is  often  getting  less  than  half  what  the  consumer 


84  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

pays  and  the  cooperative  spirit  grows  apace.  The 
efficiency  of  farmers'  organizations  for  mutual  profit 
has  varied  greatly  in  different  sections,  but  they  serve 
a  genuine  need  and  have  a  great  future,  as  class  con- 
sciousness increases  among  farmers. 

But  the  new  social  consciousness  in  the  country  is 
not  merely  a  matter  of  group  loyalty.  It  has  to  do 
with  the  interests  of  the  whole  community.  The  self- 
ish days  of  the  independent  farmer  are  rapidly  pass- 
ing. The  social  spirit  of  mutual  interdependence  is 
certainly  growing.  One  of  the  tests  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion is  the  capacity  for  cooperation.  Tardily,  very 
tardily,  the  country  has  been  following  the  city  in  this 
ability  to  cooperate  for  common  ends  and  the  com- 
munity welfare,  but  improvement  is  very  evident. 

The  problem  of  community  socialization  will  be 
treated  in  Chapter  V.  We  shall  find  that  the  need  of 
cooperation  runs  through  every  phase  of  rural  life  and 
explains  the  common  weakness  of  every  rural  institu- 
tion. But  leaders  of  country  life,  both  East  and  West, 
have  caught  the  social  vision  and  are  sharing  it  with 
their  neighbors.  "  Together  "  is  the  watchword  of  the 
new  day  in  the  country,  and  the  incentive  of  coopera- 
tive endeavor  is  the  key  to  the  new  success  in  every 
rural  interest  and  organization. 

V.    Effect  of  the  New  Order  on  Rural 
Institutions. 

For  several  decades  we  have  been  seriously  troubled 
by  the  decay  of  rural  institutions.  The  strain  upon 
them  resulting   from  rural  depletion  has  been  very 


THE   NEW   RURAL   CIVILIZATION  S^ 

serious.  First  of  all  the  country  schools  began  to 
deteriorate  and  thousands  of  them  doubtless  have 
been  closed.  With  the  decay  of  the  village,  the  village 
store,  that  social  center  and  fountain  of  all  wisdom, 
has  lost  prestige  and  most  of  its  trade.  The  trolley 
and  the  mail  order  houses  have  made  it  unnecessary. 
With  the  coming  of  the  rural  delivery  route,  even  the 
village  post-office  has  lost  all  social  importance. 
With  the  advent  of  farm  machinery  and  fewer  farm 
hands,  many  of  the  jolly  social  functions  of  the  past, 
such  as  husking  bees,  barn  raisings,  spelling  bees  and 
lyceums,  have  ceased  to  be;  while  the  rural  churches 
in  all  depleted  sections  have  suffered  sadly  and  in  hun- 
dreds of  cases  have  succumbed. 

In  some  scattered  communities,  away  from  the 
beaten  paths,  this  social  decay  has  resulted  in  de-so- 
cializing the  neighborhood.  Feuds,  grudges,  gross  im- 
moralities have  followed  and  the  people  have  relapsed 
into  practical  heathenism.  But  in  many  places  social 
readjustment  has  come,  with  a  new  efficiency  in 
rural  institutions.  Centralized  schools  have  brought 
a  new  largeness  of  vision  in  place  of  the  little  district 
knowledge  shop.  The  great  advantages  of  the  rural 
free  delivery  have  certainly  outweighed  the  loss  of  the 
social  prestige  of  the  post-office,  just  as  the  trolley  is 
more  valuable  than  the  village  store.  Many  of  the  old 
time  social  functions  were  worth  while,  but  new  insti- 
tutions like  the  Grange  and  the  farmers'  clubs,  institutes 
and  cooperative  organizations  are  better  fitted  to  the 
modern  age  and  are  contributing  largely  to  the  new 
rural  civilization,  while  the  village  church  and  the 
church  in  the  open  country  are  discovering  new  op- 


96  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

portunities  for  service,  broader  community  usefulness 
and  a  great  social  mission. 

The  new  rural  civilization  is  bringing  a  new  pros- 
perity into  the  great  business  of  farming.  It  is  bring- 
ing new  and  permanent  satisfactions  and  comforts 
into  country  homes.  It  has  greatly  diminished  the 
vexed  problem  of  rural  isolation,  with  its  many  new 
ways  of  communication.  It  has  to  a  remarkable  de- 
gree eliminated  drudgery,  through  the  use  of  wonder- 
ful machinery.  It  has  popularized  education  and  de- 
veloped a  new  social  consciousness  and  new  efficiency 
in  rural  institutions,  amounting  often  to  a  total  redi- 
rection of  the  community  life.  But  fundamentally 
the  new  civilization  is  naturally  religious.  It  is  re- 
vealing the  strong  religious  sentiment  in  country  folks, 
even  when  they  are  not  associated  with  churches.  It 
is  calling  upon  the  church  to  gird  itself  for  new  tasks 
and  under  a  new,  virile  type  of  leadership  undertake 
real  community  building  with  the  modern  church  as 
the  center  of  activity  and  source  of  inspiration  and 
guidance.  The  church  should  be,  and  with  adequate 
leadership  is,  the  local  power  house  of  the  country  life 
movement. 

Rural  Progress  and  the  Providence  of  God 

Every  man  of  faith  must  see  in  this  new  rural  civ- 
ilization the  purpose  of  God  to  redeem  the  country 
from  the  dangers  of  a  rural  peasantry  and  moral 
decadence.  Progress  is  the  will  of  God.  Christ's 
vision  of  a  Kingdom  of  Heaven  involved  a  redeemed 
world.  That  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  coming  ulti- 
mately in  the  country  as  well  as  in  the  city.    Every 


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ville,   Ontario,   Canada. 


THE   NEW   RURAL   CIVILIZATION  87 

4ign  of  rural  progress  indicates  it  and  should  be  hailed 
with  joy  by  men  of  faith.  The  triumph  over  isolation 
and  the  gradual  emancipation  from  drudgery,  the  de- 
velopment of  good  roads,  trolleys,  telephones,  rural 
mail  service,  automobiles,  and  the  wonderful  evolution 
of  farm  machinery  are  all  way-marks  in  the  providence 
of  God  indicating  the  ultimate  coming  of  his  King- 
dom. The  increased  intelligence  among  farming 
people,  the  many  new  agencies  for  popular  education, 
the  new  social  consciousness  and  growing  spirit  of  co- 
operation, the  new  efficiency  of  rural  institutions,  a 
better  school,  a  community-serving  church,  a  character- 
building  home,  as  well  as  a  scientifically  conducted 
farm,  every  one  of  these  makes  for  better  rural  morals 
and  better  religion,  and  should  delight  the  heart  of 
every  earnest  man  who  "  desires  a  better  country,  that 
is  a  heavenly." 

Test  Questions  on  Chapter  III 

I. — Why  are  the  terms  "  countryman  "  and  "  farmer  " 
ceasing  to  be  used  as  terms  of  ridicule? 

2. — What  effect,  in  past  years,  has  isolation  had  upon 
people  living  in  the  country? 

3. — What  modern  means  of  intercommunication  have 
largely  overcome  the  evils  of  rural  isolation  ? 

4. — What  are  the  social  possibilities  of  the  telephone 
for  people  living  in  the  open  country  ? 

5. — Why  are  good  roads  so  essential,  socially  and  in- 
dustrially, in  the  country  sections? 

6. — When  was  the  "  Good  Roads  Association " 
formed,  and  how  much  has  your  state  expended 


88  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

for  state  roads  the  past  twenty  years?     (In- 
quire of  your  County  Surveyor.) 
7. — What  do  the  rural  sections  owe  to  the  steam  rail- 
road system  of  the  country  ? 
8. — What  have  the  trolleys  accomplished  which  the 

steam  roads  could  not  do? 
9. — ^What  changes  in  rural  life  are  due  to  the  rural 
free  delivery  of  mail  ? 

ID. — Describe  what  these  changes  have  accomplished 
in  your  own  home  county. 

II. — To  what  extent  has  machinery  relieved  farm 
labor  of  its  drudgery? 

12. — Describe  the  evolution  of  the  plow  and  the  har- 
row. 

13. — What  inventions  in  farm  machinery  have  had  the 
greatest  influence  on  rural  progress? 

14. — What  can  you  say  about  the  increase  of  intelli- 
gence in  the  country  sections  you  have  known  ? 

15. — What  agencies  are  now  at  work  in  the  country 
making  popular  education  possible? 

16. — Have  you  observed  anywhere  yet  the  new  social 
consciousness  or  class  consciousness  among 
farmers  ? 

17. — To  what  extent  do  you  think  cooperation  has 
gained  acceptance  in  the  country? 

18. — In  what  rural  institutions  is  cooperation  still 
greatly  lacking? 

19. — What  changes  have  already  come  in  rural  insti- 
tutions? 

20. — How  is  this  new  rural  civilization  revealing  the 
will  of  God,  and  what  relation  has  it  to  the 
coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  ? 


CHAPTER  IV 
TRIUMPHS   OF   SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE 


CHAPTER  IV 
Triumphs  of  Scientific  Agriculture 

I.    Its  Struggle  with  Rural  Conservatism 

Modern  efficiency  in  city  and  country. 
The  natural  conservatism  of  farmers. 
What  is  progressive  agriculture? 
Its  development  by  government  patronage. 

11.    Some  Special  Aspects  of  Scientific  Agriculture 

Intensive  farming  and  conservation  of  fertility. 

Achievements  of  scientific  breeding. 

Marvels  of  plant  production. 

Irrigation  and  the  problem  of  the  desert. 

Dry  farming  possibilities. 

III.    Some  Results  of  Scientific  Farming 

Agriculture  now  a  profession. 
Conservation:  a  new  appeal  to  patriotism. 
Permanency  of  rural  Christendom  now  possible. 


CHAPTER  IV 
TRIUMPHS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE 

I.    Its  Struggle  with  Rural  Conservatism. 

Modern  EMciency  not  Confined  to  Cities 

Efficiency  is  everywhere  demanded  by  the  spirit 
of  our  times.  We  are  living  in  an  age  that  does 
things.  Whatever  the  difficulties,  it  somehow  gets 
things  done.  It  brings  to  pass  even  the  seemingly 
impossible.  Are  there  mountains  in  the  way?  It 
goes  over,  under,  or  through. —  There  are  no  moun- 
tains! Is  there  an  isthmus,  preventing  the  union  of 
great  seas  and  blocking  commerce?  It  erases  the 
isthmus  from  the  world's  map. —  There  is  no  isthmus ! 
The  masterful  time-spirit  has  little  patience  with  put- 
tering inefficiency.  It  expects  every  man  to  pull  his 
weight,  to  earn  his  keep,  to  do  his  own  task,  and  not  to 
whimper. 

Our  cities  are  hives  of  efficiency,  cruel  efficiency 
often.  With  new  pace-makers  every  year,  the  wheels 
of  industry  speed  ever  faster,  raising  the  percentage  of 
effectiveness,  per  dollar  of  capital  and  per  capita  em- 
ployed. Hundreds  at  the  wheels,  with  scant  nerves, 
fail  to  keep  the  pace ;  and  the  race  goes  by  them.  But 
the  pace  keeps  up.  Other  workmen  grow  more  deft 
and  skillful.    The  product  is  both  cheapened  and  per- 

91 


92  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

fected.  The  plant  becomes  more  profitable,  under  fine 
executive  efficiency.  The  junk-heap  grows  apace: 
Out  goes  every  obsolete  half -success.  In  comes  every 
new  machine  which  reduces  friction,  doubles  results, 
halves  the  cost  of  maintenance,  and  swells  dividends. 
Surely  efficiency  is  the  modern  shibboleth. 

Here  is  the  new  Tungsten  electric  lamp,  which  uses 
half  the  current,  at  low  voltage,  but  doubles  the  light ; 
the  very  dazzling  symbol  of  efficiency.  How  it  anti- 
quates  the  best  Edison  lamp  of  yesterday!  Yet  the 
Tungsten  becomes  old-fashioned  in  a  year.  It  is  too 
fragile  and  is  speedily  displaced  by  the  improved 
Mazda. 

But  city  life  has  no  monopoly  on  efficiency.  In 
fact  we  do  not  find  in  the  mills  or  factories  the  best 
illustrations  of  modern  effectiveness.  We  have  to  go 
back  to  the  soil.  Agriculture  has  become  the  newest 
of  the  arts,  by  the  grace  of  modern  science.  To  make 
two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew  before  is 
too  easy  now.  Multiplying  by  two  is  small  boys' 
play.  Burbank  has  out-Edisoned  Edison !  He  and 
other  experimenters  in  the  scientific  breeding  of  plants 
and  animals  have  increased  the  efficiency  of  every  live 
farmer  in  the  land,  and  have  added  perhaps  a  billion 
dollars  a  year  to  the  nation's  wealth. 

They  have  not  yet  crossed  the  bee  and  the  firefly, 
as  some  one  has  suggested,  to  produce  an  illuminated 
bee  that  could  work  at  night  by  his  own  light.  Nor 
have  they  produced  woven-wire  fences  by  crossing 
the  spider  and  the  wire- worm!  Not  yet;  but  they 
have  done  better.  By  skillful  cross-breeding,  they 
have  raised  the  efficiency  of  the  sugar  beet  from  7%^ 


TRIUMPHS   OF   SCIENTIFIC   AGRICULTURE  93 

to  15%  sugar.  They  have  produced  hardy,  seedless 
oranges,  plums,  apples,  and  strawberry  plants  which 
will  stand  the  climate  of  the  frozen  north.  They  have 
developed  fine,  long-stapled  cotton,  high-yielding  ce- 
real grains,  and  mammoth  carnations  and  chrysanthe- 
mums. They  have  produced  the  wonderberry,  the 
Wealthy  Apple  and  the  Burbank  Potato.  They  have 
developed  flax  with  25%  more  seed.  And  the  "  Min- 
nesota Number  Thirteen  Corn,"  so  hardy  and  sure, 
has  carried  the  cornbelt  in  three  great  states  fully  fifty 
miles  further  to  the  north,  with  its  magnificent  wake 
of  golden  profits.  No  wonder  America  feeds  the 
world.  Such  is  our  splendid  Yankee  genius  for  effi- 
ciency. It  is  the  master-spirit,  the  ruling  genius  of 
our  age;  and  it  shows  itself  best  on  our  fields  and 
prairies.  Other  nations  compete  fairly  well  with 
our  manufactures.  They  outstrip  us  in  commerce. 
But  they  are  hopelessly  behind  our  American  agricul- 
ture. The  farm  products  of  this  country  amounted 
in  the  year  1910  to  almost  nine  billion  dollars.  The 
corn  crop  alone  was  worth  a  billion  and  a  half ;  enough 
to  cancel  the  entire  interest-bearing  debt  of  the  United 
States,  buy  all  of  the  gold  and  silver  mined  in  all  the 
countries  of  the  earth  in  1909,  and  still  leave  the  farm- 
ers pocket-money.^ 

The  Natural  Conservatism  of  Farmers 

In  all  fairness  it  must  be  said,  the  modern  gospel  of 
progressiveness  has  not  been  everywhere  accepted,  far 
from  it.  Plenty  of  farmers,  doubtless  the  majority, 
are  still  following  the  old  traditions.     Country  folks 

*  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Sec.  of  Agric.  for  1910,  p.   ii. 


94  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

as  a  rule  are  conservative.  They  like  the  old  ways 
and  are  suspicious  of  "  new-fangled  notions."  Di- 
rector Bailey  of  Cornell  enjoys  telling  the  comment  he 
overheard  one  day  from  a  farmer  of  this  sort.  It  was 
after  he  had  been  speaking  at  a  rural  life  conference, 
doubtless  proposing  various  plans  for  better  farming, 
which  diifered  from  the  honored  superstitions  of 
the  neighborhood.  A  stolid  native  was  overheard  say- 
ing to  his  neighbor,  **  John,  let  them  blow !  They 
can't  hurt  me  none."  He  prided  himself  on  being 
immune  to  all  appeals  at  such  a  rural  life  revival. 

Such  a  man  is  very  common  among  the  hills,  and 
wherever  the  soil  is  poor ;  but  he  is  beginning  to  feel 
lonesome  in  really  prosperous  rural  communities,  for 
the  new  agriculture  is  fast  winning  its  way.  That  is, 
the  application  of  science  to  agriculture  has  proved  its 
efficiency  by  actual  tangible  results,  A  farmer  may 
be  so  superstitious  as  to  begin  nothing  on  a  Friday, 
nor  butcher  during  a  waning  moon  for  fear  his  meat 
will  shrink,  nor  use  an  iron  plow  for  fear  it  may 
poison  the  soil!  But  when  his  neighbor  by  modem 
methods  adds  50%  to  his  crop,  he  knows  there  must  be 
something  in  it.  The  new  theory  he  always  greets 
with  "  I  don't  believe  it !"  but  the  knock-down  argu- 
ment of  facts  compels  his  reluctant  faith.  Soon  he 
gives  the  new  heresy  a  trial  himself;  and  success 
makes  him  a  convert  to  the  new  gospel. 

An  experience  like  this  is  a  serious  thing  for  a  hide- 
bound conservative,  long  wedded  to  old  methods.  It 
means  that  "  the  former  things  are  passed  away  and 
behold  all  things  are  become  new."  He  loses  his  su- 
perstitions as  he  discovers  the  laws  of  cause  and  effect. 


TRIUMPHS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE  95 

He  gradually  concludes  that  farming  is  not  a  matter 
of  luck  but  largely  a  matter  of  science;  that  it  is  not 
merely  tickling  Dame  Nature  till  she  grudgingly  shares 
her  bounties,  but  that  it  is  a  scientific  process,  the 
laws  of  which  may  be  discovered.  This  means  mental 
growth  for  the  farmer,  the  stimulus  of  many  new 
ideas  which  bring  wider  horizons  and  a  larger  life; 
and  incidentally  a  heightened  respect  for  his  own  life- 
work. 

What  is  Progressive  Agriculture  f 

The  old-fashioned  farmer,  particularly  in  America 
where  methods  have  been  so  wasteful  because  of  the 
cheapness  of  land,  has  planted  and  harvested  just  for 
the  season's  returns,  with  little  regard  for  the  future. 
The  modern  farmer,  self-respecting  and  far-sighted, 
plans  for  the  future  welfare  of  his  farm.  He  learns 
how  to  analyze  and  treat  his  soil  and  to  conserve  its 
fertility,  just  as  he  would  protect  his  capital  in  any 
business  investment.  Scientific  management  and 
farm  economy  are  taking  the  place  of  mere  soil-mining 
and  reckless  waste.  The  best  farmers  plan  to  leave 
their  farms  a  little  more  fertile  than  they  found  them. 
Good  authorities  in  rural  economics  assert  that  if  de- 
pletion of  soil  fertility  were  taken  into  account,  the 
wasteful  methods  of  American  agriculture  in  the  past, 
though  producing  apparently  large  returns,  have  ac- 
tually been  unprofitable.  So  long  as  new  land  could 
easily  be  obtained  from  the  government  for  a  mere 
song  and  a  few  months'  patience,  the  pioneer  farmer 
was  utterly  careless  in  his  treatment  of  the  soil.  He 
moved  from  state  to  state,  skimming  the  fat  of  the 


g6  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

land  but  never  fertilizing,  following  the  frontier  line 
westward  and  leaving  half-wasted  lands  in  his  trail. 
It  was  really  a  blessing  to  the  land  when  the  scarc- 
ity of  free  homesteads  brought  this  wasteful  process 
towards  its  end.  When  new  lands  became  scarce,  the 
farms  of  the  middle  West  increased  in  value.  For 
twenty  years  farm  values  have  been  rising  steadily, 
with  two  evident  results :  intensive  farming  and  specu- 
lation. The  demoralizing  effects  of  the  latter  are  at 
once  apparent.  It  was  a  sad  day  when  the  prairie 
farmer  ceased  to  think  of  his  farm  as  a  permanent 
home,  but  as  a  speculative  asset.  But  it  was  a  good 
day  for  the  business  of  farming  when  the  farmer  dis- 
covered the  need  of  more  careful,  intensive  cultiva- 
tion to  keep  pace  with  rising  values.  This  marks  the 
beginning  of  scientific  thoroughness  and  efficiency  in 
our  tilling  of  the  soil. 

Its  Development  by  Government  Patronage 

Just  then  something  very  timely  happened.  The 
modem  period  of  American  agriculture  really  dates 
from  1887,  when  Congress,  by  the  Hatch  Act,  estab- 
lished the  first  national  system  of  agricultural  experi- 
ment stations  in  the  world.  Previous  to  this  date 
there  had  been  a  few  private  and  state  enterprises; 
but  this  Act  of  Congress  established  at  public  ex- 
pense an  experiment  station  in  every  state  and  terri- 
tory. The  vast  usefulness  of  this  movement  in  de- 
veloping a  real  science  of  agriculture  is  evident  from 
this  paragraph  from  the  law : 

"  Sec.  2  That  it  shall  be  the  object  and  duty  of 
said  experiment  stations  to  conduct  original  researches 


TRIUMPHS   OF  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE  9/ 

or  verify  experiments  on  the  physiology  of  plants  and 
animals ;  the  diseases  to  which  they  are  severally  sub- 
ject, with  the  remedies  for  the  same;  the  chemical 
composition  of  useful  plants  at  their  different  stages 
of  growth;  the  comparative  advantages  of  rotative 
cropping,  as  pursued  under  the  varying  series  of 
crops ;  the  capacity  of  new  plants  or  trees  for  acclima- 
tion; the  analysis  of  soils  and  water;  the  chemical 
composition  of  manures,  natural  or  artificial,  with  ex- 
periments designed  to  test  their  comparative  effects 
on  crops  of  different  kinds;  the  adaptation  and  value 
of  grasses  and  forage  plants ;  the  composition  and  di- 
gestibility of  the  different  kinds  of  food  for  domestic 
animals;  the  scientific  and  economic  questions  in- 
volved in  the  production  of  butter  and  cheese, 
et  cetera." 

As  a  result  of  this  and  later  laws,  over  three  mil- 
lions of  dollars  are  now  spent  annually,  by  the  na- 
tional and  state  governments,  to  support  experiment 
station  work.  Over  a  thousand  men  are  employed  in 
the  investigations  and  their  publications  cover  prac- 
tically the  whole  range  of  the  science  and  art  of 
agriculture.  About  five  hundred  separate  bulletins 
are  issued  each  year,  which  may  be  obtained  free  on 
application. 

This  great  chain  of  experiment  stations  is  working 
wonders.  In  cooperation  with  the  agricultural  col- 
leges and  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture, 
they  are  raising  agriculture  to  scientific  levels. 
They  are,  by  their  laboratory  work,  doing  the 
farmer's  experimenting  for  him  and  doing  it 
better     and     with     greater     certainty.    Thus     they 


98  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

are  eliminating  much  of  the  uncertainty  and 
"  luck "  from  farming  which  has  been  its  curse 
and  discouragement.  And  thus  they  are  equipping  the 
farmer  to  cope  more  effectively  with  the  difficulties  of 
nature  and  to  put  a  more  confident  fight  with  stub- 
born climate  and  fickle  weather,  because  he  knows  the 
scientific  points  of  the  game. 

II.    Some  Special  Aspects  of  Scientific  Agriculture. 

Intensive  Farming  and  Conservation  of  Fertility 

The  opening  of  the  rich  prairie  lands  to  cultivation, 
with  the  marvels  of  extensive  agriculture,  is  a  wonder- 
ful story.  Our  last  chapter  suggested  it  in  outline. 
But  intensive  farming  has  its  own  triumphs,  though 
they  may  be  less  spectacular.  There  is  something 
that  wins  our  respect  in  the  careful,  thorough  meth- 
ods of  European  agriculture,  by  which  whole  na- 
tions are  able  to  make  a  living  on  tiny  farms  by  in- 
tensive farming.  Tilling  every  little  scrap  of  ground, 
even  roadside  and  dooryard,  and  guarding  the  soil  fer- 
tility as  the  precious  business  capital  of  the  family,  it 
is  wonderful  how  few  square  rods  can  be  made  to 
sustain  a  large  family. 

Frugality  is  not  attractive  to  Americans,  especially 
the  European  type  which  often  means  peasant  farm- 
ing, and  a  low  scale  of  living.  We  are  discover- 
ing, however,  the  vast  possibilities  of  farm  economy 
and  intensive  cultivation.  Professor  Carver  says, 
"  Where  land  is  cheap  and  labor  dear,  wasteful  and 
extensive  farming  is  natural,  and  it  is  useless  to 
preach  against  it.    .    .    .    We  always  tend  to  waste 


TRIUMPHS  OF   SCIENTIFIC   AGRICULTURE  99 

that  which  is  cheap  and  economize  that  which  is  dear. 
The  condition  of  this  country  in  all  the  preceding 
periods  dictated  the  wasteful  use  of  land  and  the 
economic  use  of  labor,  as  shown  by  the  unprecedented 
development  of  agricultural  machinery.  But  as  land 
becomes  dearer,  relatively  to  labor,  as  it  inevitably 
will,  the  tendency  will  be  equally  inevitable  toward 
more  intensive  agriculture,  that  is,  toward  a  system 
which  produces  more  per  acre.  This  will  follow 
through  the  normal  working  of  economic  laws,  as 
surely  as  water  will  flow  down  hill." 

It  is  wonderful  what  can  be  accomplished  by  in- 
tensive cultivation.  If  the  old  New  England  orchards 
were  given  as  thorough,  care  and  treatment  as  the 
scientifically  tended  and  doctored  apple  trees  of  Ore- 
gon, the  results  would  surprise  the  oldest  citizen! 
Conserving  moisture  and  keeping  the  soil  clean  from 
weeds  is  worth  all  the  painstaking  care  it  requires. 
The  renovation  of  the  soil  by  regular  fertilizing  is  a 
lesson  the  wasteful  West  is  slowly  learning,  coupled 
with  scientific  schemes  of  crop  rotation  to  conserve 
the  soil's  quality.  Farmers  are  astonishingly  slow 
to  adopt  these  methods,  however,  thinking  that  they 
know  best  the  needs  of  their  own  soil.  The  North 
Dakota  experiment  station  is  inducing  farmers  to 
adopt  their  advice  as  to  seed  selection  and  crop  rota- 
tion with  the  promise  to  set  aside  five  acres  for  ex- 
perimentation in  accordance  with  the  advice  gfiven. 
This  is  extremely  wise  policy.  Doubtless,  if  direc- 
tions are  faithfully  followed,  the  contrast  with  the 
rest  of  the  farm  will  be  highly  favorable  to  the  five- 
acre  lot  and  agricultural  progress  will  win  out. 


100  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

^Achievements  in  Scientific  Breeding 

In  the  earlier  pages  of  this  chapter  we  have  already 
alluded  to  this  fascinating  subject  as  an  illustration 
of  modern  efficiency  in  country  life.  Four  years  ago 
Assistant  Secretary  Hays  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture asserted  that  scientific  breeding  of  better  stock 
and  plant  life  was  netting  this  country  a  billion  dollars 
a  year,  of  the  total  agricultural  production  of  seven 
and  a  half  billions  in  1907.''  In  1910  the  total  reached 
about  nine  billions  and  it  is  probable  that  scientific 
agriculture  was  the  main  cause  of  the  great  increase 
rather  than  additional  acreage. 

One  of  the  wonders  of  modern  science  is  this  story 
of  the  development  of  new  plant  species  and  improve- 
ment in  the  best  of  the  old,  by  the  skillful  processes 
of  plant  breeding.  Notable  also  has  been  the  im- 
provement in  American  horses,  cattle,  swine  and 
poultry,  developed  by  the  same  scientific  principles. 
Projected  efficiency,  or  breeding  power  to  beget  valu- 
able progeny,  is  the  central  idea.  Simple  selection  is 
the  method.  Out  of  a  large  number  of  animals  the 
phenomenal  individual  is  selected  for  his  notable  ca- 
pacity for  reproducing  in  his  offspring  his  own  de- 
sirable characteristics.  Thus  the  best  blood  is  multi- 
plied and  the  less  desirable  is  discarded.  Sometimes 
by  close  inbreeding  the  eugenic  process  has  been  has- 
tened. In  this  way  scientific  stock  raisers  have  been 
able  practically  to  make  to  order  animals  with  any  de- 
sired quality.  For  instance,  the  great  demand  for 
bacon  in  England  has  been  met  by  a  masterly  bit  of 

*  "  Brains  that  Make  Billions."  W.  M.  Hays,  in  Saturday  Evening 
Post,  Aug.    39,    1908. 


TRIUMPHS   OF   SCIENTIFIC   AGRICULTURE  lOI 

agricultural  statesmanship,  for  which  Mr.  John  Dry- 
den,  chief  of  the  Canadian  Agricultural  Department, 
is  responsible.  After  careful  study  and  experiment, 
the  Yorkshire  and  Tamworth  breeds  of  hogs  were 
crossed  and  a  special  breed  developed  especially  valu- 
able for  bacon  with  exceptionally  long  sides  of  uni- 
form thickness  and  with  alternating  layers  of  fat  and 
lean.     Selected  bacon  made  to  order! 

New  breeds  of  sheep  have  been  developed  which  have 
combined  phenomenal  wool-producing  power  with  su- 
perior meat  production;  similarly  short-horn  cattle 
with  great  milk-giving  capacity  and  beef  production; 
and  more  remarkable  still  have  been  the  results  in 
horse  breeding.  In  spite  of  all  the  motor-cycles  and 
automobiles,  the  horse  is  becoming  more  and  more 
useful,  because  more  highly  civilized  and  specialized. 
The  breeders  know  how  to  build  up  horse-flesh  to 
suit  your  special  needs  for  draft  horse,  family  horse, 
trotter  or  pacer,  with  any  desired  form,  proportions 
or  talent,  almost  as  accurately  as  a  druggist  com- 
pounds prescriptions!  The  wonderful  possibilities 
involved  challenge  our  imagination.  Among  the  re- 
sults of  this  stock-raising  strategy  we  ought  to  expect 
not  only  happier  and  richer  farmers,  but  better  and 
cheaper  food  and  clothing  for  all  classes  of  people. 
The  very  fact  that  the  business  is  now  on  a  scientific 
basis  has  appealed  to  students  and  is  attracting  men  of 
large  abilities  who  see  the  opportunity  to  better  rap- 
idly, year  by  year,  the  live-stock  quality  of  the  whole 
country. 


102  THE   CHALLENGE  GF   THE  COUNTRY 

Marvels  in  Plant  Production 

In  the  field  of  plant  breeding  these  marvelous  re- 
sults are  more  rapid  and  startling  because  of  the  wider 
rang  of  selection.  Hybridization,  the  crossing  of  dif- 
ferent species,  has  accomplished  much  more  than  sim- 
ple selection.  Dr.  William  Saunders  of  Canada  suc- 
ceeded in  crossing  the  Ladoga  and  Fife  varieties  of 
wheat  and  secured  a  wheat  which  was  earlier  than 
Fife  and  yielded  better  than  Ladoga.  Likewise, 
Luther  Burbank  was  able  to  produce  a  hybrid  walnut 
by  crossing  the  English  and  Black  walnuts ;  and  Web- 
ber and  Swingle  developed  the  new  fruits  called  tan- 
gerines and  citranges  by  crossing  sweet  oranges  with 
carefully  selected  specimens  of  the  wild  fruit.  Ex- 
periments last  year  in  blueberry  culture  developed 
luscious  berries  a  half  inch  in  diameter.  Possibilities 
in  berry  development  are  almost  unlimited,  especially 
by  crossing  with  hardy  wild  varieties. 

Peach  raisers  have  two  great  obstacles  to  sure  suc- 
cess :  drought  in  the  Southwest  and  frost  toward  the 
North.  Science  is  helping  them  to  compete  success- 
fully with  the  severities  of  nature.  A  hardy  wild 
peach  has  been  found  in  Northern  China  and  grafting 
on  this  stock  has  produced  (this  last  year)  the  hardiest 
peach  in  Iowa ;  while  another  strain  bids  fair  to  meet 
the  drought-resisting  needs  of  the  Southwest  fruit 
grower. 

Our  agricultural  explorers  are  searching  the  world 
for  new  varieties  which  can  be  used  in  hybridizing  to 
perfect  the  American  species.  For  instance,  a  wild 
wheat  has  been   found   in  Palestine  which  requires 


TRIUMPHS   OF   SCIENTIFIC   AGRICULTURE  I03 

very  little  water.  So  a  specialist  in  acclimatization 
was  sent  directly  to  the  slopes  of  Mount  Hermon  to 
discover  its  possibilities  for  American  dry  farming. 
If  the  plant  doctors  succeed  in  developing  wheat 
which  can  be  raised  in  our  arid  wilderness,  it  would 
repay  a  thousand  fold  the  expense  of  a  round-the- 
world  trip.  The  possible  profits  in  skillful  plant 
breeding  are  almost  unlimited.  Burbank  is  quoted  as 
asserting :  "  The  right  man  under  favorable  conditions 
can  make  one  dollar  yield  a  million  dollars  in  plant 
breeding."  In  1908  the  Minnesota  Experiment  Sta- 
tion had  spent  $40,000  in  breeding  the  cereal  grains. 
The  agricultural  department  is  authority  for  the  opin- 
ion that  "  the  increased  production  is  estimated  at  a 
thousand  fold,  or  $40,000,000."  ^ 

The  justly  famous  navel  oranges  of  California  can 
all  be  traced  to  two  scions  sent  from  the  U.  S.  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  some  years  ago.  The 
Wealthy  apple,  which  thrives  in  the  cold  north  better 
than  any  other  good  variety,  goes  back  to  the  early 
struggles  of  Peter  Gideon  at  Lake  Minnetonka,  who 
faced  the  Minnesota  winter  almost  penniless,  coatless 
and  with  a  family  dependent  upon  him ;  but  had  faith 
enough  to  invest  his  hard-earned  dollars  in  selected 
apple-seed  from  his  far  off  home  in  Maine.  The 
largest  single  contributor  to  the  wealth  produced  by 
scientific  breeding  is  said  to  be  the  Burbank  potato. 
The  van-guard  of  American  experimenters  are  rang- 

*  However,  let  us  not  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  general  farm- 
inR  to-day  is  hiRhly  profitable.  Inflation  of  farm  values  in  many  sec- 
tions has  resulted  in  serious  over-capitalization.  The  general  farmers 
making  big  dividends  bought  their  farms  some  years  ago,  or  inherited 
them. 


104  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

ing  the  world  and  bringing  home  large-fruited  jujubes 
(as  good  as  dates)  from  the  dry  fields  of  central  Asia; 
seedless  Chinese  persimmons  which  have  just  been 
successfully  fruited  in  North  Carolina;  a  Japanese 
salad  plant  and  a  vegetable  called  udo  which  is  similar 
to  asparagus ;  edible  roots  called  avoids  which  thrive 
in  swampy  land  where  the  potato  rots;  hardy  alfalfa 
from  central  Asia  successfully  crossed  with  our  own 
varieties  for  our  cold  northwest;  drought-resisting 
cherries,  apricots  with  sweet  kernels,  Caucasian 
peaches,  olives  hardy  in  zero  temperatures,  mangoes 
from  Porto  Rico,  the  Paradise  apple  which  grows  wild 
in  the  Caucasus,  the  Slew  Abrikose,  an  apricot  as 
smooth  as  the  nectarine,  and  wild  strawberries  fruit- 
ing in  February  on  the  dry  cliffs  of  western  Asia 
which,  through  cross-breeding  may  help  to  carry  our 
native  strawberry  many  miles  still  farther  to  the  north. 
The  story  is  endless;  but  these  items  suggest  to  us 
the  thoroughly  statesmanlike  way  in  which  our  agri- 
cultural leaders  are  increasing  year  by  year  the  pos- 
sibilities of  our  soil  in  spite  of  all  drawbacks  of  con- 
dition and  climate.  No  wonder  they  are  already  proph- 
esying that  our  annual  agricultural  production  will 
before  long  reach  twenty  billions.  When  it  comes,  a 
large  part  of  the  credit  must  be  given  to  the  skillful 
agricultural  scientists  who  are  furnishing  all  progress- 
ive farmers  these  newer  species  of  plants  and  animals 
which  are  superseding  the  inferior  varieties. 

Irrigation  and  the  Problem  of  the  Desert 

When  it  is  the  problem  of  sterility,  it  is  hopeless. 
But  usually  it  is  merely  the  problem  of  aridity ;  which 
is  only  a  challenge  to  enterprise.     Much  of  our  "  Great 


TRIUMPHS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE  I05 

American  Desert,"  as  the  old  geography  used  to  de- 
scribe it,  is  in  reality  the  most  fertile  of  all  soils ;  no 
wonder  it;  can  easily  be  made  to  "  blossom  as  the 
rose." 

Dr.  W.  E.  Smythe  in  his  fascinating  book  "The 
Conquest  of  Arid  America "  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  real  dividing  line  between  the  east  and 
the  west  is  the  97th  meridian  which  divides  in  twain 
the  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Oklahoma  and  Texas. 
East  of  this  line  is  the  region  of  fairly  assured  rain- 
fall. To  the  westward  stretches  the  vast  area  of  arid 
land  with  a  rainfall  insufficient  to  sustain  agriculture; 
and  with  only  three  or  four  people  to  the  square  mile, 
though  with  resources  enough  to  support  a  hundred 
million  people.  With  a  climate  matchless  for  health 
and  a  varied  and  beautiful  scenery,  coupled  with  un- 
told mineral  deposits  and  a  soil  fertility  that  is  remark- 
able, this  great  section  is  slowly  coming  to  its  own, 
through  the  method  of  irrigation,  from  the  mountains 
and  the  streams. 

With  characteristic  western  spirit  the  above  author 
remarks,  "  Even  in  humid  regions  nothing  is  so  un- 
certain as  the  time  and  amount  of  the  rainfall.  In 
the  whole  range  of  modern  industry  nothing  is  so 
crude,  uncalculating  and  unscientific  as  the  childlike 
dependence  on  the  mood  of  the  clouds  for  the  moisture 
essential  to  the  production  of  the  staple  necessities  of 
life."  The  superiority  of  irrigation  as  a  certain  means 
of  water  supply  which  can  be  regulated  at  will  is  a 
thesis  easy  to  maintain.  The  results  make  a  marvel- 
ous story.  "  The  canal  is  an  insurance  policy  against 
loss  of  crops  by  drought,  while  aridity  is  a  substantial 
guarantee  against  injury  by  flood.    The  rich  soils  of 


I06  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

the  arid  region  produce  from  four  to  ten  times  as 
largely  with  irrigation,  as  the  soil  of  the  humid  region 
without  it.  Twenty  acres  in  the  irrigated  West  should 
equal  loo  acres  elsewhere.  Certainty,  abundance,  va- 
riety —  all  this  upon  an  area  so  small  as  to  be  within 
the  control  of  a  single  family  through  its  own  area, 
are  the  elements  which  compose  industrial  independ- 
ence under  irrigation." 

The  small  farm  unit,  usually  from  five  to  twenty-five 
acres,  brings  neighbors  close  together,  abolishing  lone- 
liness and  most  of  the  social  ills  of  farm  life  in  the 
East.  Beautiful  irrigated  villages  are  springing  up 
which  rival  in  comfort  and  privilege  most  places  on 
earth,  and  combine  both  city  and  country  privileges, 
where  rural  and  urban  meet.  The  spirit  of  coopera- 
tion is  strong  in  irrigated  communities,  enforced  by 
the  common  dependence  upon  the  common  enterprise 
and  water  supply.  This  is  well  illustrated  by  the 
Mormon  commonwealth,  the  pioneer  irrigators  of  the 
West. 

The  enthusiastic  irrigating  farmer  asserts  that  ir- 
rigation is  "  the  foundation  of  truly  scientific  agri- 
culture." "  The  western  farmer  who  has  learned  to 
irrigate  thinks  it  would  be  quite  as  illogical  for  him 
to  leave  the  watering  of  his  potato  patch  to  the  caprice 
of  the  clouds  as  for  the  housewife  to  defer  her  wash- 
day until  she  could  catch  rainwater  in  her  tubs."  Ir- 
rigation certainly  furnishes  the  ideal  method  for  rais- 
ing a  varied  crop,  giving  each  crop  individual  treat- 
ment, serving  each  of  thirty  varieties  of  plants  and 
trees  with  just  the  amount  of  daily  moisture  they  in- 
dividually need,  so  as  to  produce  maximum  products. 


TRIUMPHS   OF  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE  IO7 

No  wonder  three  crops  in  a  year  sometimes  result, 
and  sometimes  five  crops  of  alfalfa  in  the  Southwest. 
Here  we  come  to  the  highest  development  of  intensive 
farming  where  the  utmost  value  of  agricultural  science 
has  free  play  and  rivals  the  results  of  research  and 
skill  in  any  other  line  of  human  effort. 

Dry  Farming  Possibilities 

Wonderful  as  these  irrigation  projects  are,  we  must 
not  fail  to  notice  that  this  method  of  reclaiming  arid 
lands  can  only  be  used  where  there  are  mountains,  riv- 
ers or  water  courses  which  can  be  tapped.  Ulti- 
mately an  area  as  large  as  New  England  and  New  York 
State  will  probably  be  blessed  by  irrigation.  But  this 
is  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  arid  West.  How  shall 
the  rest  be  reclaimed  from  the  desert?  Obviously  by 
some  method  of  dry  farming,  depending  on  and  con- 
serving the  meager  rain-fall. 

A  few  simple  principles  have  been  discovered,  and 
some  specialized  machinery  developed,  by  which  suc- 
cessful dry  farming  is  now  conducted  on  an  exten- 
sive scale  along  the  arid  plains  between  the  Missouri 
river  basin  and  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains.  In 
brief  these  principles  are:  deep  plowing,  sub-soil 
packing,  intensive  cultivation,  maintaining  a  fine  dust 
mulch  on  the  surface,  the  use  of  drought-resisting 
grains,  especially  certain  varieties  of  wheat,  allowing 
the  land  to  He  fallow  every  other  year  to  store  mois- 
ture, and  keeping  a  good  per  cent  of  humus  (vegetable 
matter)  in  the  soil  to  resist  evaporation.  In  every 
possible  way  the  dry  farmer  conserves  moisture.  The 
dry  mulch  is  particularly  effective.    Only  a  few  years 


I08  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

ago  it  was  discovered  that  by  capillary  attraction 
much  of  the  water  absorbed  by  the  spongy  soil  during  a 
rain  is  lost  by  rapid  evaporation,  coming  to  the  sur- 
face, just  as  oil  runs  up  a  wick.  But  by  stirring  the 
surface  the  "  capillary  ducts  "  are  broken  up  and  the 
moisture  tends  to  stay  down  in  the  sub  soil;  for  the 
two  inches  of  dust  mulch  on  the  surface  acts  like  a 
blanket,  protecting  the  precious  moisture  from  the 
dry  winds. 

III.     Some  Results  of  Scientific  Farming. 

'Agriculture  Now  a  Profession 

In  such  a  brief  treatment  it  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  the  writer  could  do  justice  to  the  subject  of  mod- 
em agriculture.  In  fact  there  has  been  little  reference 
to  the  topic  of  general  farming  in  this  chapter.  In  its 
main  outline  it  is  a  familiar  topic  and  requires  little 
attention  here.  The  descriptions  of  certain  varieties  of 
specialized  agriculture  have  been  given  as  illustrations 
of  the  more  remarkable  phases  of  the  application  of 
scientific  methods  to  country  life.  We  hope  two  re- 
sults have  thus  been  attained,  that  the  dignity  and  effi- 
ciency and  scientific  possibilities  of  modern  agriculture 
as  a  profession  have  been  brought  to  the  attention  both 
of  our  readers  in  the  city  and  of  the  discontented  farm 
boys  in  the  country.  Both  need  a  higher  appreciation 
of  country  life.  It  should  be  evident  to  all  that  agri- 
culture to-day  is  thoroughly  scientific  when  rightly 
practiced,  which  is  simply  saying  that  the  practice  of 
the  new  agriculture  is  a  profession.  It  is  among  the 
most  difficult  and  highly  technical  of  all  professions. 


TRIUMPHS  OF   SCIENTIFIC   AGRICULTURE  IO9 

No  profession,  with  the  possible  exception  of  medi- 
cine, has  a  broader  scientific  basis  or  is  at  present 
deriving  a  greater  benefit  from  vast  inductive  work 
in  world-wide  experimentation  at  both  public  and  pri- 
vate expense.  This  profession  has  made  wonderful 
gains  in  recent  years  in  both  extensive  and  intensive 
efficiency,  and  has  written  among  its  triumphs  many 
of  the  most  romantic  stories  of  modern  mechanical 
skill,  inventive  genius,  economic  profit  and  scientific 
achievement. 

This  honorable  profession  is  not  only  worthy  of  the 
finest  and  ablest  of  our  American  young  manhood, 
but  its  opportunity  and  present  need  is  a  distinct  chal- 
lenge to  their  attention.  Mr.  James  J.  Hill  recently 
stated  as  his  opinion  that  not  more  than  one  per  cent 
of  American  farmers  in  the  middle  West  were  keeping 
in  touch  with  the  agricultural  institutions ;  which  is 
the  same  as  saying  they  are  not  keeping  up  to  date. 
This  suggests  the  need  of  more  intelligent  modern 
farmers  tilling  the  soil  as  a  profession  and  thus  point- 
ing the  way  to  progress  for  all  their  neighbors. 

Conservation:  A  New  Appeal  to  Patriotism 

This  word  conservation  has  but  recently  won  its 
place  of  honor  in  our  popular  speech ;  but  it  is  a  word 
of  mighty  import.  The  battle  for  conservation  of 
our  national  resources  is  on,  and  it  challenges  the  at- 
tention of  our  young  collegians. 

It  is  encouraging  to  see  results  already.  By  a  happy 
combination  of  progressiveness  with  true  conservatism, 
we  are  conserving  our  national  assets  from  Niagara 
to  the  mighty  forests  of  Washington  and  California 


no  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

and  from  the  arid  lands  of  the  mighty  empire  of  Mon- 
tana to  the  swamps  of  Florida.  The  nation  is  re- 
penting of  its  prodigal  wastefulness  and  is  now  guard- 
ing jealously  its  forest  reserves,  its  vast  water-power 
privileges,  its  coal  and  mineral  deposits  and  its  soil 
fertility,  for  upon  these  stores  of  fundamental  wealth 
depends  the  prosperity  of  endless  generations.  Many 
alluring  chances  will  come  to  men  now  in  college  to 
share  in  this  great  task  of  the  nation,  this  fascinat- 
ing enterprise  of  conservation. 

Permanency  of  Rural  Christendom  Now  Possible 

Any  reader  must  be  quite  lacking  in  vision  who  has 
been  able  to  read  this  chapter  on  the  remarkable  prog- 
ress of  modern  agricultural  science  without  discerning 
the  deep  religious  significance  of  it  all.  Civilization 
unquestionably  is  based  on  economics.  Rural  pros- 
perity is  a  primary  condition  of  rural  permanence. 
Farming  must  be  profitable  enough  to  maintain  a  self- 
respecting  rural  folk;  or  the  open  country  would  be 
speedily  abandoned  to  a  race  of  peasants  and  rural 
heathenism  would  be  imminent. 

Progress  in  agriculture,  developing  rural  prosperity, 
means  the  survival  of  the  best  rural  homes  and  the 
finest  rural  ideals,-— otherwise  these  would  go  to  the 
city.  Retaining  in  the  country  a  genuine  Christian 
constituency  and  rural  leadership  means  the  survival 
of  the  country  church.  The  Christian  forces  in  the 
country  have  a  vast  stake  in  rural  prosperity.  You 
cannot  hope  to  build  a  prosperous  country  church  on 
poor  soil  or  maintain  it  on  bad  farming.  This  is  not 
a  mere  matter  of  scarcity  of  contributions.    It  is  a  re- 


TRIUMPHS   OF   SCIENTIFIC   AGRICULTURE  III 

suit  of  the  poverty  of  personality  among  people  who 
are  poor  Christians  because  they  are  poor  farmers. 

Christian  leaders  should  therefore  rejoice  in  the  ad- 
vance of  modern  agriculture  not  only  because  it  all 
signifies  a  richer  and  broader  rural  prosperity,  but 
also  because  it  makes  possible  the  permanence  of  rural 
Christendom  and  the  survival  of  successful  country 
churches.  The  more  profitable  modem  farming  is 
made,  the  richer  becomes  the  opportunity  of  country 
life,  the  larger  proportion  of  the  brightest  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  farm  will  resist  the  lure  of  the  city. 
Nothing  is  so  vital  to  the  country  church,  humanly 
speaking,  as  to  keep  in  the  country  parishes  a  fair 
share  of  the  country  boys  and  girls  of  the  finest  type. 
With  them  it  lives  and  serves  its  community.  With- 
out them  it  will  die  and  its  community  will  become 
decadent. 

It  is  no  selfish  Christian  spirit  that  rejoices  in  the 
broadening  opportunities  of  country  life.  The  church 
is  but  a  means  to  an  end.  The  great  objective  is  the 
coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  for  which  Jesus 
prayed.  As  fast  as  the  very  soil  of  a  country  is  rec- 
ognized as  "  holy  land,"  and  preserving  its  fertility  is 
felt  to  be  a  patriotic  duty ;  as  fast  as  better  live  stock, 
better  plant  species  and  a  better  breed  of  men  are 
sought  as  a  working  ideal ;  as  fast  as  the  conservation 
of  all  natural  resources  becomes  a  national  life  pur- 
pose ;  so  rapidly  and  inevitably  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  will  come.  The  Country  Life  Movement  is 
fundamentally  religious. 


112  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

Test  Questions  on  Chapter  IV 

I. — Mention  a  few  evidences  of  modern  industrial 
efficiency. 

2. — What  can  you  say  of  the  efficiency  of  modern 
agriculture  ? 

3- — In  what  ways  have  you  noticed  country  people  to 
be  especially  conservative? 

4. — Compare  the  wasteful  farm  methods  of  a  half 
century  ago  with  the  careful  intensive  cultiva- 
tion of  to-day. 

5. — How  has  the  government  helped  progressive  ag- 
riculture ? 

6. — ^What  are  the  experiment  stations  accomplishing? 

7. — What  do  you  think  of  the  evil  of  soil-piracy? 

8. — Mention  some  of  the  remarkable  achievements  of 
scientific  breeding  of  farm  animals. 

9. — What  should  be  the  results  of  all  this  improve- 
ment in  our  live  stock?    What  stands  in  the 
way? 
10. — What  has  especially  interested  you   among  the 
marvels  of  plant  production  by  cross-cultiva- 
tion? 
II. — ^Why  are  representatives  of  our  Agricultural  De- 
partment searching  the  world  for  new  species 
of  plants  ? 
12. — Locate  the  desert  sections  of  America  where  the 

rainfall  is  insufficient  to  sustain  agriculture. 
13. — What  do  you  think  of  the  advantages  and  possi- 
bilities of  irrigation? 
14. — Explain  the  methods  of  dry  farming,  especially 
the  principle  involved  in  the  "  dust  mulch." 


TRIUMPHS  OF   SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE  II3 

15. — To  what  extent  is  it  true  that  scientific  agricul- 
ture has  now  become  a  profession? 

16. — Explain  the  real  patriotism  in  the  modern  policy 
of  conservation  of  natural  resources. 

17. — To  what  extent  do  you  think  the  government 
ought  to  own  or  control  the  great  forests,  the 
water  power  and  the  coal  deposits?    Why? 

18. — How  does  this  whole  subject  of  progressive  agri- 
culture aflfect  the  religious  life  of  the  country  ? 

19. — Upon  what  economic  basis  does  the  permanence 
of  religious  institutions  in  the  country  quite 
largely  depend  ? 

20. — What  do  you  think  is  the  great  religious  objec- 
tive in  all  rural  progress? 


CHAPTER  V 

RURAL  OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  SOCIAL 
RECONSTRUCTION 


CHAPTER  V 
Rural  Opportunities  for  Social  Reconstruction 

A.  Country  Life  Deficiencies 
I.    Social  Diagnosis 

Rural  individualism. 

The  weakness  in  rural  institutions. 

The  difficulty  of  organizing  farmers. 

II.    Failures  in  Rural  Cooperation 

Lack  of  political  effectiveness. 
Lack  of  cooperation  in  business. 
Lack  of  religious  cooperation. 

III.    Rural  Morals  and  the  Recreation  Problem 

Lack  of  wholesome  social  life  for  young  people. 
Lack  of  recreation  and  organized  play. 
Morality  and  the  play  spirit. 

B.  The  New  Cooperation  in  Country  Communities 

I,    Social  Cooperation 

The  problem  of  community  socialization. 

Who  shall  take  the  initiative? 

A  community  plan  for  socialization. 

The  gospel  of  organized  play. 

The  school  a  social  center. 

The  social  influence  of  the  Grange. 

II.    Business  Cooperation 

Modern  rural  cooperative  movements. 
Cooperation  among  fruit  growers. 
Some  elements  of  success  and  failure. 
Our  debt  to  immigrants. 
Cooperative  success  in  Denmark. 

[Cooperation  of  religious  forces  will  be  treated  in  Chap.  VIL] 


CHAPTER  V 

RURAL  OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  SOCIAL 
RECONSTRUCTION 

A.      COUNTRY   LIFE  DEFICIENCIES 

I.     Social  Diagnosis :  Rural  Individualism. 

The  preceding  chapters  have  emphasized  the  riches 
of  country  life  sufficiently  to  save  the  author  from  the 
charge  of  pessimism.  Let  us  hold  fast  to  our  rural 
optimism.  We  shall  need  it  all.  But  let  it  not  blind 
us  to  the  unfortunate  facts  in  rural  life,  for  diagnosis 
is  the  first  step  toward  recovery.  We  are  to  notice 
now  some  of  the  fundamental  social  deficiencies  which 
are  almost  universal  in  our  American  rural  society. 

Dr.  Butterfield  calls  the  American  farmer  "  a  ram- 
pant individualist !  "  Independence  has  been  his  na- 
tional boast  and  his  personal  glory.  Pioneer  life  de- 
veloping heroic  virtues  in  his  personality  has  made  him 
as  a  class  perhaps  the  most  self-reliant  in  history.  The 
ownership  of  land  always  gives  a  man  the  feeling  of 
independence.  Let  the  world  spin, —  his  broad  acres 
will  support  him  and  his  family.  If  one  crop  fail, 
another  will  succeed,  though  the  weather  act  its  worst. 
American  farms  average  perhaps  the  largest  in  the 
world,  nearly  one-fourth  of  a  square  mile.  Hence  the 
distance  between  farm  homes,  and  the  habit  of  social 
independence  which  is  bred  by  isolation. 

117 


Il8  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

"  Every  man  for  himself ;  look  out  for  number  one  *' 
is  the  natural  philosophy  of  life  under  such  condi- 
tions. Self -protection  and  aggrandizement,  jealousy 
of  personal  rights,  slowness  to  accept  advice,  prone- 
ness  to  law  suits  over  property,  thrifty  frugality  to  a 
fault,  indifference  to  public  opinion,  disregard  of  even 
the  opinions  of  experts, —  all  are  very  characteristic  of 
people  of  such  independence!  of  life.  They  seldom 
yield  to  argument.  They  do  not  easily  respond  to 
leadership.  They  are  likely  to  view  strangers  with 
suspicion.  Self-reliance  overdeveloped  leads  them  to 
distrust  any  initiative  but  their  own.  Hence  they  do 
not  readily  work  with  other  people.  They  refuse  to 
recognize  superiority  in  others  of  their  own  class. 
All  of  which  results  in  a  most  serious  social  weakness ; 
failure  in  cooperation,  a  fatal  failure  in  any  society. 
Positively,  this  explains  the  jealousies  and  feuds  so 
common  in  rural  neighborhoods.  Negatively,  it  ac- 
counts for  the  lack  of  effective  social  organization. 

Where  a  progressive  rural  community  has  read- 
justed itself  to  the  social  ideals  of  the  new  century, 
these  weaknesses  are  quietly  disappearing.  Elsewhere 
you  still  find  them. 

The  Weakness  in  Rural  Institutions 

This  unsocial  streak  of  distrust  and  poor  social 
cooperation  runs  through  every  sort  of  institution  in 
rural  life.  Schools  are  usually  run  on  the  old  school- 
district  plan  with  over-thrifty  supervisors,  no  continu- 
ous policy,  and  with  each  pupil  buying  his  own  text 
books;  roads  are  repaired  by  township  districts,  with 
individuals  "  working  out  their  taxes ; "  churches  are 


SOCIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  IIQ 

maintained  on  the  retail  plan,  the  minister  being  hired 
by  the  year  or  even  by  the  week ;  the  churches  them- 
selves are  numerous  and  small,  because  of  the  selfish 
insistence  upon  individual  views ;  even  cooperative 
agreements  in  business  have  been  repudiated  by  farm- 
ers under  stress  of  temptation  to  personal  gain ;  while 
rural  distrust  of  banks  and  organized  business  is  pro- 
verbial. 

All  of  these  unsocial  tendencies  are  probably  less  due 
to  selfishness  than  to  lack  of  practice  in  cooperation. 
City  people  however  have  had  constant  practice  in 
cooperation;  hence  they  work  together  readily 
and  successfully.  They  are  organized  for  every  con- 
ceivable purpose  good  or  bad.  In  fact  they  are  so  in- 
toxicated with  the  joy  of  social  effort,  they  are  apt  to 
carry  all  sorts  of  social  life  to  an  extreme.  The  social 
fabric  is  as  complex  and  confusing  in  the  city  as  it  is 
simple  and  bare  in  the  country.  The  problem  for  the 
country  is  to  develop  a  wholesome  social  life  and  an  ef- 
ficient institutional  life  which  shall  avoid  the  extremes 
of  the  city  and  yet  shall  get  country  people  to  working 
together  harmoniously  and  happily.  Only  thus  can 
life  in  the  open  country  maintain  itself  in  a  social  age 
for  successful  business,  church,  home,  school  or  so- 
cial life.  Only  thus  can  country  character  develop  its 
capacity  for  those  social  satisfactions  which  are  the 
crowning  joys  of  a  complete  and  harmonious  civiliza- 
tion. But  those  who  have  faith  in  the  fundamental 
vitality  and  adaptability  of  rural  life  believe  that  even 
this  serious  weakness  in  cooperation  can  be  gradually 
overcome  and  country  life  be  made  as  effective  for  its 
own  purposes  as  life  in  the  city.    This  faith  is  justi- 


I20  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

fied  Ky  large  success  already  thus  attained  in  pro- 
gressive rural  sections  with  the  modern  spirit. 

The  Difficulty  of  Organizing  Farmers 

Five  reasons  are  mentioned  by  President  Butterfield 
to  account  for  this  difficulty:  Ingrained  habits  of 
individual  initiative;  Financial  considerations;  Eco- 
nomic and  political  delusions  which  have  wrecked  pre- 
vious organizations  of  farmers;  Lack  of  leadership; 
and  Lack  of  unity.  Under  lack  of  leadership,  he  says : 
"  The  farm  has  been  prolific  of  reformers,  fruitful  in 
developing  organizers,  but  scanty  in  its  supply  of  ad- 
ministrators. It  has  had  a  leadership  that  could  agi- 
tate a  reform,  project  a  remedial  scheme,  but  not  much 
of  that  leadership  that  could  hold  together  diverse 
elements,  administer  large  enterprises,  steer  to  great 
ends  petty  ambitions."  ^  Yet  country-bred  leaders 
have  been  wonderfully  successful  in  the  city  under  dif- 
ferent social  conditions. 

Failures  in  leadership  are  often  due  to  failure  to  get 
support  for  the  project  in  hand.  This  in  turn  is  due 
to  lack  of  common  purposes  and  ideals.  A  success- 
ful leader  personifies  the  ideals  of  his  following.  Un- 
less there  is  unity  in  ideals  the  following  disintegrates. 
Here  again  the  rural  unsocial  streak  shows  plainly. 
Individual  notions,  ideas  and  remedies  for  social  ills 
have  been  so  various,  it  has  taken  the  stress  of  some 
great  common  cause,  the  impulse  of  some  powerful 
sentiment,  or  the  heat  of  some  mighty  moral  conflict 
to  fuse  together  the  independent  fragments.  This  was 
done  when  Lincoln  sounded  the  appeal  to  patriotism 

»Cyc    of   Am.    Agri.,   Vol.    IV. 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  121 

in  '6i ;  when  Bryan's  stirring  eloquence  aroused  par- 
ticularly the  debtor  farmer  class  in  '96 ;  and  when  the 
projectors  of  the  Farmers'  Alliance,  the  Grange  and 
the  Populist  Party  succeeded  in  their  appeals  to  class 
consciousness  and  convinced  the  farmers  of  their  need 
of  union.  Rural  movements  however  have  usually 
been  short-lived. 

II.    Failures  in  Rural  Cooperation. 

Lack  of  Political  Effectiveness 

Farmers  usually  do  their  duty  serving  on  juries  and 
in  minor  civil  offices.  They  are  usually  fairly  well 
represented  in  state  legislatures.  But  few  farmers  go 
to  Congress  or  gain  real  leadership  in  politics.  In 
proportion  to  their  numbers,  the  rural  people  have 
marvelously  little  influence  in  the  affairs  of  govern- 
ment. We  have  in  this  country  no  Agrarian  party. 
The  farmers  are  divided  among  the  different  political 
camps  and  seldom  do  they  exert  any  great  influence 
as  a  class  in  the  making  of  the  laws.  There  are  about 
seventy  times  as  many  agriculturists  as  lawyers  in 
the  United  States, —  yet  the  lawyers  exert  vastly 
greater  civic  influence  and  greatly  outnumber  farmers 
in  most  law-making  bodies. 

Yet  there  are  about  fifty  million  rural  people  in  the 
country,  largely  in  farm  households.  The  average 
farmer  in  1910  paid  taxes  on  138  acres  besides  other 
property.  Why  should  he  not  have  more  political  in- 
fluence? Why  has  he  not  demanded  and  secured  a 
dominating  influence  in  the  state?    There  is  probably 


122  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

no  reason  except  lack  of  cooperation,  and  adequate 
leadership  to  accomplish  it. 

Lack   of  Cooperation  in  Business 

Successful  farming  is  essentially  cooperative.  The 
most  successful  classes  of  farmers  in  the  country,  ac- 
cording to  Professor  Carver,  are  the  Pennsylvania 
Dutch,  the  Mormons  and  the  Quakers.  All  of  these 
cooperate  in  their  farming  operations  to  a  high  de- 
gree, as  well  as  in  their  social  and  church  life.  They 
occupy  their  farms  permanently  as  family  homes. 
Their  land  is  not  for  sale,  in  spite  of  the  rising  values. 
To  a  large  extent  they  buy  and  sell,  and  work  their 
farms  together,   to  their  great  mutual   advantage. 

The  old-fashioned  farm  management  however, 
which  still  generally  persists,  is  competitive,  and  there- 
fore wasteful  and  unsocial.  With  rapid  transporta- 
tion and  the  lengthening  distance  between  producer 
and  consumer,  the  function  of  the  middleman  has 
grown  and  his  power  vastly  increased.  Consequently 
on  many  products  the  rise  in  selling  price  is  due  to 
the  series  of  middlemen  through  whose  hands  the 
article  has  passed  on  the  way  to  market.  Investiga- 
tions at  Decatur,  111.,  revealed  the  fact  that  head-let- 
tuce sold  there  was  raised  within  five  miles  of  Chicago, 
shipped  into  the  city,  repacked  and  shipped  by  freight 
to  Decatur,  a  five-hour  trip;  then  stored  in  the  latter 
city  over  night;  and  finally  displayed,  wilted  in  the 
sun,  in  a  store  window,  and  sold  to  a  housewife  who 
buys  it  for  fresh  goods!  If  raised  in  a  suburb  of 
Decatur,  it  might  have  been  sold  at  half  the  price,  and 
been  really  fresh  enough  to  eat.    The  same  story  of 


SOCIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  123 

flagrant  waste  through  poor  management  might  be 
told  of  butter,  cream,  and  practically  all  farm  prod- 
ucts which  are  not  sold  in  a  public  market  near  the 
producer's  home. 

Not  only  are  both  the  farmer  and  his  ultimate  cus- 
tomer suffering  a  considerable  loss  from  this  competi- 
tive system  of  marketing,  the  process  itself  is  bad  so- 
cially, for  this  reason.  It  cuts  off  the  farmer  from 
his  normal  market,  the  nearest  village,  and  isolates 
him  and  his  family  so  that  they  have  virtually  no  in- 
terests there.  If  the  farmer  should  sell  his  product 
in  the  village  stores  or  through  a  public  market,  or  a 
cooperative  commission  house,  he  would  have  more  at 
stake  in  that  town.  He  would  probably  trade  and  go 
to  church  there,  his  wife  would  do  her  buying  there, 
they  would  be  persons  of  importance  to  the  towns- 
people and  would  form  friendships  and  social  relation- 
ships there.  As  it  is,  a  wall  of  mutual  suspicion  and 
disregard  separates  this  family  from  the  people  of  the 
town. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  farming  can  be  sufficiently 
profitable  to-day,  or  the  life  of  the  open  country  be 
really  satisfying,  without  some  degree  of  cooperation 
in  business.  More  and  more  men  are  realizing  this; 
are  overcoming  their  natural  weakness  for  indepen- 
dence and  are  discovering  numerous  modern  ways 
to  cooperate  with  other  farmers ;  to  their  great  mutual 
advantage  both  financially  and  socially,  as  will  be  in- 
dicated later. 

Lack  of  Religious  Cooperation 

The  old  self-sufficing  and  competitive  methods  of 


124  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

farming  have  been  closely  paralleled  by  the  selfish 
ideals  in  religion;  the  great  aim  being  to  save  one's 
own  soul  and  enjoy  the  religious  privileges  of  one's 
favorite  type  of  church,  whatever  happened  mean- 
while to  the  community.  In  most  country  places  re- 
ligion is  still  strongly  individualistic.  Rural  folk  have 
seen  little  of  the  social  vision  or  felt  the  power  of  the 
social  gospel  of  Jesus,  which  aims  not  only  to  convert 
the  individual,  but  to  redeem  his  environment  and 
reorganize  the  community  life  by  Christian  standards. 
Consequently  rural  churches  are  depending  too  ex- 
clusively on  preaching  and  periodic!  revivals  rather 
than  on  organized  brotherliness,  systematic  religious 
education  and  broad  unselfish  service.  All  of  these 
are  essential. 

This  lack  of  cooperation  is  very  widely  in  evidence 
in  the  division  of  country  communities  into  petty  little 
churches,  so  small  and  ineffective  as  to  be  objects  of 
pity  instead  of  respect  and  enthusiastic  loyalty.  In 
the  older  sections  of  the  country,  rural  communities 
often  have  twice  as  many  churches  as  are  needed ;  but 
in  the  middle  West  and  the  still  newer  sections  further 
westward  the  problem  of  divided  Christian  forces  is 
even  more  serious.  Many  a  small  township  has  five 
churches  where  one  or  two  would  be  quite  sufficient, 
and  all  are  struggling  for  existence.  The  problem  is 
less  serious  in  the  South,  where  denominations  are 
fewer  and  where  union  services  are  exceedingly  com- 
mon. 

In  a  sparsely  settled  section  in  Center  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, there  are  24  churches  within  a  radius  of  four 
miles.    This   fact  was  vouched  for  in   191 1  by  the 


SOCIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  12$ 

Presbyterian  Department  of  the  Church  and  Country 
Life.    The  same  authority  suggests  the  following: 

In  Marshall  County,  Indiana,  with  a  total  popula- 
tion of  but  24,175,  there  are  twenty-nine!  varieties 
of  churches,  separating  Christian  people.  The  situa^ 
tion  is  typical  and  the  names  are  so  suggestive  as  to 
be  worth  recording:  Amish  Mennonite,  Baptist, 
Primitive  Baptist,  Brethren,  Catholic,  Christian, 
Church  of  Christ  Scientist,  Church  of  God  (Advent- 
ists).  Church  of  God  (Saints),  Come-Outers,  Con- 
gregational, Disciple,  Episcopalian,  Evangelical  As- 
sociation, German  Evangelical,  Holiness,  Lutheran 
(Synod  of  Chicago),  Lutheran  (Synod  of  Missouri), 
Swedish  Lutheran,  Methodist  Episcopal,  Methodist 
Protestant,  Pentecostal  Holiness,  Presbyterian,  Pro- 
gressive Brethren,  Reformed,  Seventh  Day  Adventist, 
United  Brethren,  United  Brethren  (Old  Constitution), 
and  Wesleyan  Methodist. 

The  village  of  Lapaz  in  this  county  has  only  252 
inhabitants,  but  there  are  three  churches.  They  have 
20  members  all  told!  There  are  68  persons  in  the 
village  who  claim  to  be  church  members,  but  48  belong 
to  churches  of  12  denominations  elsewhere.  There 
are  93  people  affiliated  with  no  church  whatever;  and 
no  boy  or  young  man  in  the  village  belongs  to  any 
church.    No  wonder ! 

III.    Rural  Morals  and  the  Recreation  Problem. 
Lack  of  Wholesome  Social  Life  for  Young  People 

In  three  adjoining  townships  in  Indiana  there  are  21 
country  churches,  all  but  four  of  which  are  dead  or 


126  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

dying.  The  average  membership  is  52.  One  of  the 
local  leaders  significantly  said,  "  We  don't  believe  in 
any  social  life  in  our  church.  Socialism  never  saved 
anybody."  Exactly.  Such  churches  ought  to  die  and 
certainly  will. 

The  perfectly  natural  craving  in  all  healthy  young 
people  for  social  life  is  a  fact  the  rural  districts  fail 
to  appreciate.  By  years  of  drudgery  the  farmers  and 
their  wives  may  starve  to  death  this  social  craving  in 
themselves.  The  work-slave  forgets  how  to  play  and 
outlives  his  social  hungers.  But  his  children  are  not 
born  that  way.  They  have  natural  human  instincts 
and  appetites  and  these  imperiously  demand  opportu- 
nity for  expression.  The  religion  that  imagines  that 
these  things  are  bom  of  Satan  and  must  be  repressed, 
is  a  religion  of  death  not  life. 

It  is  worse  than  useless  for  the  church  to  discourage 
the  social  life  among  its  young  people.  If  it  tries 
to  starve  their  social  hungers  and  furnishes  no  chance 
in  the  church  for  young  people  to  meet  freely  in 
friendly  intercourse,  those  young  people  will  meet 
elsewhere,  as  surely  as  the  moon  shines.  To  put  the 
ban  of  the  church  on  dancing  and  all  other  popular 
amusements,  and  then  oflFer  no  substitute  whatever, 
is  not  only  unreasoning  cruelty,  it  is  pure  foolishness. 

You  cannot  hope  to  dam  a  stream  and  make  no  other 
outlet.  Undoubtedly  the  country  dance  is  usually  a 
bad  social  enterprise ;  but  the  only  way  to  fight  it 
successfully  is  with  social  competition,  not  opposition. 
The  loyalty  of  young  people  to  the  church  often  begins 
when  they  discover  the  church  people  really  under- 
stand their  social  cravings  and  are  doing  something  sen- 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  12/ 

sible  to  meet  them.  Happy  the  village  where  the 
young  people  have  all  their  best  times  under  Christian 
leadership. 

But  unfortunately  rural  life  is  seriously  lacking, 
both  in  and  out  of  the  church,  in  social  opportunities ; 
and  the  condition  is  far  worse  than  in  generations  past. 
To  begin  with,  farmers'  families  are  perhaps  only  two- 
thirds  as  large  as  they  used  to  be.^  There  are  fewer 
children  in  the  home  and  in  the  school.  Farm  ma- 
chinery has  displaced  three-fourths  of  the  hired  men. 
Fewer  older  boys  are  really  needed  on  the  father's 
farm;  so  they  are  free  to  go  to  the  city  where  the 
social  life  strongly  attracts  them.  The  same  is  all 
too  true  of  the  farm  daughters. 

The  incoming  of  urban  standards  has  helped  to  dis- 
place the  old-fashioned  rural  recreations  which  were 
natural  to  country  life,  and  the  taste  for  vaudeville, 
the  public  dance,  amusement  parks  and  picture  shows 
has  developed  instead.  The  husking-bees  and  the  ap- 
ple-cuttings and  the  sugaring-offs,  the  quilting  bees  and 
the  singing  schools  and  spelling  matches,  wholesome, 
home-made  neighborhood  pastimes,  which  meant  en- 
joyment from  within  instead  of  mere  amusement  from 
without,  have  silently  disappeared.  Little  remains  in 
many  rural  places  but  unmitigated  toil,  relieved  by  an 
occasional  social  spasm  in  the  nearest  village.  In 
short,  recreation  has  become  commercialized.  Instead 
of  the  normal  expression  of  the  social  instinct  in  co- 
operative and  wholesome  pleasures  which  were  natural 
to  country  life,  social  stimulus  is  bought  for  a  nickel 

'  Doubtless  this  single  fact  would  account  for  the  loss  in  population 
in  many  townships.  There  are  just  as  many  families  as  ever  but  a 
lower  birthrate. 


128  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

or  a  quarter;  and  an  electric  age  furnishes  forthwith 
the  desired  nerve  excitement. 

Lack  of  Recreation  and  Organized  Play 

This  modern  sort  of  recreation  is  not  as  good  as 
the  old  for  two  reasons.  It  is  really  a  sort  of  intoxi- 
cation instead  of  a  mild  stimulant;  and  it  is  often 
solitary  instead  of  social.  Solitary  pleasure  is  subtle 
selfishness.  Even  the  rural  sports  are  apt  to  be  soli- 
tary, such  as  hunting  and  fishing.  If  the  country  is 
ever  to  be  socialized  and  a  spirit  of  cooperation  de- 
veloped which  will  make  possible  strong  team-work 
in  business,  politics  and  religion,  then  we  must  begin 
with  the  laboratory  practice  of  organized  play.  As  a 
successful  country  minister  says,  "  The  reason  why 
farmers  cannot  seem  to  cooperate  when  they  are  g^own 
up  is  in  the  fact  that  they  did  not  learn  team-play  when 
they  were  boys"  Faithfulness  to  the  daily  work  is 
a  great  character  builder,  but  Dr.  Luther  H.  Gulick 
rightly  insists  that  play,  because  of  its  highly  volun- 
tary character,  trains  men  in  a  better  morality  than 
work  does. 

Especially  is  this  true  of  wage-earners,  students  in 
school,  and  all  those  who  work  for  others.  As  Dr. 
Wilson  in  his  fine  chapter  on  Rural  Morality  and  Rec- 
reation, so  well  says,  "  What  we  do  for  hire,  or 
under  the  orders  of  other  people,  or  in  the  routine  of 
life  is  done  because  we  have  to.  We  do  not  choose 
the  minor  acts  of  study  in  school,  of  work  in  the  fac- 
tory, of  labor  in  the  house,  of  composition  in  writing 
a  book.  All  these  little  acts  are  part  of  a  routine 
which  is  imposed  upon  us  and  we  call  them  work. 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  1 29 

But  play  is  entirely  voluntary.  Every  action  is  chosen, 
and  expresses  will  and  preference.  Therefore  play  is 
highly  moral.  It  is  the  bursting  up  of  our  own  indi- 
viduality and  it  expresses  especially  in  the  lesser  things, 
the  preferences  of  life.  The  great  school  for  training 
men  in  the  little  things  that  make  up  the  bulk  of  char- 
acter is  team-work  and  cooperation  in  play.  Here  is  the 
school  of  obedience  to  others,  of  self-sacrifice  for  a 
company  and  for  a  common  end,  of  honor  and  truth- 
fulness, of  the  subordination  of  one  to  another,  of 
courage,  of  persistent  devotion  to  a  purpose,  and  of 
cooperation."  ^ 

Morality  and  the  Play  Spirit 

The  undeniable  fact  that  rural  morality  is  so  closely 
dependent  upon  wholesome  recreation  makes  this  sub- 
ject a  most  vital  one.  Life  in  the  country  ought  to  be 
sweeter,  purer  and  morally  stronger  than  life  in  the 
city.  The  very  fact  that  incognito  life  is  impossible 
in  the  country  is  a  great  moral  restraint.  But  the 
moral  stamina  of  country  people  will  surely  give  way, 
under  stress  of  constant  toil,  unless  relieved  by  play 
and  its  wholesome  reactions.  Investigate  the  sad 
stories  of  sexual  immorality  so  common  among 
country  young  people  and  you  will  find  one  of  the  ulti- 
mate causes  to  be  the  serious  lack  of  wholesome  recre- 
ation and  organized  play.  The  recreation  problem  is 
fundamental  in  this  matter  of  rural  morality  and  the 
sooner  we  face  the  facts  the  sooner  we  shall  see  a 
cleaner  village  life. 

It  is  not  enough  to  encourage  occasional  socials  and 

•  •*  The  Church  of  the  Open  Country,"  p.  79. 


130  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

picnics,  track  athletics  and  baseball  games  under 
church  auspices,  as  a  sort  of  social  bait,  to  attract  and 
attach  people  to  the  church.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has 
taught  us  that  these  social  and  physical  things  are 
essential  in  and  of  themselves.  They  cannot  be  neg- 
lected safely.  In  a  sense  they  are  moral  safety- 
valves,  for  releasing  animal  spirits  which  might  be 
dangerous  to  the  community  under  pressure.  Cer- 
tainly some  measure  of  play  is  needed  to  keep  the  bal- 
ance of  sanity  and  efficiency  in  all  human  lives.  Rural 
life,  made  solitary  and  mechanical  by  modern  farm 
machinery,  is  seriously  lacking  in  the  play  spirit  and 
team-play  practice.  Here  is  its  most  serious  failure 
in  cooperative  living.  Here  its  socialization  must  be- 
gin. 

B.      THE  NEW  COOPERATION  IN  COUNTRY  COMMUNITIES 

I.     Social  Cooperation. 
The  Problem  of  Community  Socialization 

The  seriousness  of  the  problem  as  described  in  the 
previous  pages  has  not  been  overstated,  though  dwell- 
ers in  progressive  and  comfortable  country  communi- 
ties may  think  so.  Let  them  be  duly  thankful  if  their 
social  environment  is  better  than  the  average  here 
described.  Speaking  from  broad  experience  of  the 
tragic  results  of  rural  individualism,  Mr.  John  R. 
Boardman  says,  "There  is  a  great  social  impulse  in 
the  country  but  its  force  is  centrifugal.  It  tends  to 
split    up    the    community    into    jealous,    suspicious 


SOCIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  I3I 

groups,  and  we  therefore  find  sects  and  parties  dis- 
integrating and  multiplying  often  by  division.  This  is 
nothing  short  of  a  social  crime.  Strong  measures 
must  be  taken  not  only  to  prevent  further  social  strati- 
fication of  a  prejudicial  character,  but  to  compel  a  prac- 
tical organic  federation  which  will  unite  the  personal 
forces,  combine  available  resources  and  focus  on 
mutual  interests." 

Country  folks  must  learn  to  cooperate;  to  live  har- 
moniously together  in  rural  neighborhoods,  to  find  real 
recreation  in  organized  play,  to  work  effectively  at 
mutual  tasks  and  to  utilize  more  successfully  all  social 
organizations  and  means  for  community  welfare.  In- 
terdependence must  be  made  to  take  the  place  of 
boasted  independence.  Selfish  individualism  must 
yield  to  social  cooperation.  Only  thus  can  life  in  the 
open  country  be  made  to  survive.  Otherwise  tenant 
farming  will  continue  to  increase  and  a  rural  peasantry 
finally  develop  on  the  land,  with  absentee  landlords 
living  in  comfort  in  the  more  normal  social  conditions 
of  the  villages  and  towns.  Already  37%  of  farm 
owners  do  not  live  on  their  farms ;  and  the  farm  renter 
is  cursing  the  soil. 

This  acute  social  problem  is  a  great  challenge  to  true 
lovers  of  the  country.  We  believe  rural  life  will  sur- 
vive the  test.  In  most  respects  it  has  made  great 
progress  in  recent  years,  and  in  many  quarters  it  is 
rapidly  learning  the  practical  value  of  cooperation. 
Given  adequate,  intelligent  leadership,  country  life  will 
surely  grow  in  social  efficiency  and  happiness,  and 
thus  be  better  able  to  hold  its  best  people  loyal  to  the 
open  country. 


132  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

The  problem,  then,  of  socializing  the  community  so 
that  it  will  cooperate  successfully,  is  to  unite  all  the 
personal  and  social  resources,  federate  all  worth-while 
institutions  for  concerted  action  for  mutual  welfare; 
then  "  focus  on  mutual  interests  "  and  work  together 
on  the  common  tasks.  Fellowship  in  work  or  play  is 
a  great  uniter  of  hearts.  It  irresistibly  develops  a 
community  spirit. 

Who  Shall  Take  the  Initiative? 

Woe  to  the  man  who  starts  anything  in  the  country ! 
He  must  have  a  good  cause  and  an  obvious  reason. 
The  success  of  any  rural  enterprise  usually  depends 
overwhelmingly  upon  its  leader.  In  a  "  Get  Together 
Campaign  "  for  community  betterment,  the  strongest 
local  personality  or  institution  would  better  issue  the 
call.  If  there  is  a  strong  Farmers'  Club,  or  Coopera- 
tive Association,  or  Community  Library  Board,  or  a 
Village  Board  of  Trade  with  community  ideals,  they 
may  well  assume  the  right  to  take  the  first  step  toward 
an  ultimate  union  of  all  the  community  interests.  If 
there  is  only  a  single  church  in  the  place  and  it  com- 
mands the  respect  and  loyalty  of  the  people,  it  may  well 
be  the  federating  agency.  Or  the  strongest  church 
can  invite  in  the  others  and  together  they  can  make 
this  movement  a  community  welfare  proposition  with 
a  definitely  religious  stamp;  working  through  com- 
mittees of  a  church  federation  in  the  interests  of  all 
the  people.  Often  this  is  best  done  by  the  Rural 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  working  in  be- 
half of  all  the  churches. 

In  short,  whatever  institution  controls  the  greatest 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  I33 

local  influence,  and  is  most  representative  of  the  peo- 
ple, has  the  best  right  to  take  the  lead  in  socializing  the 
community.  Perhaps  it  may  not  be  a  religious  body 
at  all.  It  may  be  a  social  club,  or  a  village  improve- 
ment society,  or  a  civic  league,  or  a  Rural  Progress  As- 
sociation embodying  modern  rural  ideals.  If  it  has  the 
backing  of  the  people,  it  is  responsible  for  using  its 
social  influence  in  the  most  effective  way.  For  instance, 
in  the  prosperous  little  rural  community  of  Evergreen, 
Iowa,  the  popular  and  effective  socializing  agency  is 
"  The  Evergreen  Sporting  Association  " !  It  unites 
all  the  young  people  in  the  neighborhood,  both  married 
and  unmarried,  and  for  some  fifteen  years  has  had  a 
fine  record  for  social  efficiency.  By  its  elaborate  and 
varied  annual  program  of  popular  interests  it  has 
made  life  in  Evergreen  wholesome,  happy  and  worth 
while.  The  young  people  as  a  rule  are  loyal  to  the 
place  and  stay  on  their  prosperous  farms  instead  of 
losing  themselves  in  the  city. 

A  Community  Plan  for  Socialisation 

Rural  social  life  is  simple  and  should  be  kept  so. 
Elaborate  organization  is  never  necessary.  What  we 
need  is  that  "  touch  of  human  nature  which  makes  the 
whole  world  kin."  We  do  not  need  another  institu- 
tion, but  pKjssibly  a  social  center  and  a  working  plan 
which  can  express  and  develop  the  common  human- 
hood.  The  place  may  be  an  up  to  date  "  Neighbor- 
hood House  "  with  rest  room  and  reading  room  with 
its  chimney  corner;  a  place  for  tired  mothers  and 
babies,  and  a  meeting  place  for  men  of  business ;  or  it 
may  be  just  a  room  at  the  church  or  the  school  house 


134  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

or  the  public  library,  easily  accessible  to  all.  Or  the 
social  spirit  can  be  developed  wholly  without  any  spe- 
cial equipment.  The  main  point  is  the  growth  of  com- 
munity ideals  and  a  willingness  to  work  together  to 
attain  them. 

The  plan  should  be  the  result  of  careful  study  of 
community  needs  by  the  social  survey  method,  and  a 
more  or  less  definite  program  of  constructive  propo- 
sitions to  work  out  as  conditions  allow.  It  may  be 
a  thorough-going  plan  from  the  start,  or  a  gradual 
growth  as  the  vision  enlarges;  in  any  case  it  should 
embody  and  stimulate  the  community  desire  for  prog- 
ress. The  first  result  of  such  a  community  effort 
will  be  a  natural  reaction  on  the  local  institutions,  tend- 
ing to  encourage  them  and  help  them  to  function  nor- 
mally; bringing  a  finer  spirit  of  cooperation  into  the 
church,  new  efficiency  into  the  school  and  a  revival 
of  responsibility  in  many  homes.  The  beautifying 
of  public  and  private  grounds,  the  establishing  of  play 
grounds  and  possibly  a  lecture  or  entertainment 
course,  the  stimulating  of  the  local  social  life  in  an 
infinite  variety  of  ways,  will  be  suggested  in  detail  by 
the  local  needs. 

The  Gospel  of  Organized  Play 

"  A  new  gospel  of  the  recreative  life  needs  to  be  pro- 
claimed in  the  country,"  says  J.  R.  Boardman. 
"  Rural  America  must  be  compelled  to  play.  It  has, 
to  a  degree,  toiled  itself  into  deformity,  disease,  de- 
pravity and  depression.  Its  long  hours  of  drudgery, 
its  jealousy  of  every  moment  of  daylight,  its  scorn  of 
leisure  and  of  pleasure,  must  give  way  to  shorter  hours 


C  1.  K 

CI  2 


'  u> 


u 


o_^  S 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  1 35 

of  labor,  occasional  periods  of  complete  relaxation  and 
wholehearted  participation  in  wholesome  plays,  pic- 
nics, festivals,  games  and  other  recreative  amusements. 
Better  health,  greater  satisfaction  and  a  richer  life 
wait  on  the  wise  development  of  this  recreative  ideal."  * 

Very  slowly  people  in  the  country  are  coming  to  be- 
lieve that  play  is  a  necessity,  not  merely  a  luxury,  for 
children  and  that  it  is  a  law  of  the  child's  growth.  But 
it  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  health  nor  of  child  life. 
It  is  a  matter  of  social  welfare  and  the  development 
of  community  spirit.  It  affects  every  individual,  old 
as  well  as  young. 

Consequently  we  find  in  the  past  six  years,  since  the 
organization  of  the  Playground  Association  of  Amer- 
ica at  Washington  under  President  Roosevelt's  pat- 
ronage, great  attention  has  been  given  to  the  subject. 
Country  children,  whose  repertory  of  games  was 
found  to  be  very  limited,  have  been  taught  to  play  a 
great  variety  of  new  and  interesting  games;  and  this 
has  given  them  a  new  zest  in  life.  Country  school 
athletic  contests  have  been  organized  and  inter-com- 
munity meets  held,  sometimes  on  the  county  basis. 
Great  field  days  have  been  held,  rural  picnics  have  been 
developed  which  have  been  marvelously  successful  in 
interesting  adults  as  well  as  children ;  out-of-door  folk- 
dancing  has  been  revived;  play  festivals  have  inter- 
ested whole  townships,  with  hundreds  of  visitors,  many 
of  whom  have  tested  their  strength  and  skill  at  the  va- 
rious games  and  contests.  It  has  not  been  a  com- 
mercialized or  professional  performance  by  paid  ex- 
perts, but  a  day  of  play,  of,  for,  and  by  the  people. 

♦  Rural  Manhood,  Vol.   i,  p.  22. 


136  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

The  social  eflFect  of  these  play  festivals  is  far  reach- 
ing. "  Acquaintances  formed  on  these  occasions,"  says 
Prof.  M.  T.  Scudder,  "  may  be  followed  up  by  profit- 
able correspondence,  by  exchanging  visits,  and  thus 
lead  to  the  establishment  of  life-long  friendships.  The 
names  of  those  who  excel  in  one  sport  or  another  be- 
come household  words  throughout  the  county.  How 
this  stimulates  self-respect  and  ambition!  The  real 
leaders  in  each  community  become  known,  be  they  boys 
or  girls,  men  or  women,  and  these  may  be  brought  to- 
gether thereafter  for  organized  efforts  in  worthy  en- 
terprises for  the  common  good.  And  all  the  time  the 
isolation  of  country  life  is  being  lessened."  ^ 

More  and  more  at  these  festivals  the  products  of 
manual  training,  industrial  and  domestic  arts  are  being 
exhibited.  There  are  competitions  in  bread  making, 
sewing,  gardening,  carving,  basketry,  corn  and  vege- 
table raising,  with  every  opportunity  for  varied  inter- 
est. The  dramatic  instinct  is  developed  by  the  revival 
of  pageantry,  in  connection  usually  with  the  Fourth  of 
July  or  other  holidays,  often  with  special  local  his- 
torical significance.  "  The  Pageant  of  Thetford  "  is 
an  interesting  pamphlet  describing  a  successful  pro- 
gram of  this  order  in  Vermont.  It  may  be  obtained 
of  the  Playground  Association. 

In  summarizing  the  value  of  such  efforts,  Dr.  Scud- 
der claims,  "  Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
through  a  series  of  properly  conceived  and  well-con- 
ducted festivals  the  civic  and  institutional  life  of  an 
entire  county  or  district,  and  the  lives  of  many  indi- 

• "  Rural  Recreation,  a  Socializingr  Factor."  Annals  of  the  Am. 
Acad,   of  Pol.   and   Soc.   Sci.,   March,    19 12;   p.    189. 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  I37 

viduals  of  all  ages,  may  be  permanently  quickened  and 
inspired;  the  play  movement  thus  making  surely  for 
greater  contentment,  cleaner  morals,  and  more  in- 
tense patriotism  and  righteousness  on  the  farm  lands 
and  in  the  village  populations  of  our  country.  Such 
indeed  are  the  socializing  effects  of  organized  and  su- 
pervised play." ' 

The  School  a  Social  Center 

Under  the  modern  system  the  centralized  school  has 
become  sometimes  the  chief  social  center  of  the  town- 
ship. The  mere  fact  of  the  gathering  of  numbers 
gives  it  initial  prestige.  Often  a  fine  school  spirit  is 
developed  by  the  inter-community  contests  and  teachers 
of  the  modern  type  are  not  slow  to  see  their  oppor- 
tunity to  cooperate  with  the  pupils  out  of  school 
hours  in  wholesome  games.  The  school  building  is 
often  in  the  winter  the  meeting  place  of  the  young 
people  for  social  purposes  and  its  central  location,  its 
large  capacity,  its  neutral  and  public  character  make 
it  often  the  most  desirable  social  center  in  the  town- 
ship. This  topic  will  receive  fuller  treatment  in  our 
next  chapter  on  rural  education. 

The  Social  Influence  of  the  Grange 

The  ordinary  fraternal  orders  are  seldom  found  in 
the  rural  districts  except  in  villages  of  some  size. 
They  are  essentially  a  town  institution,  and  are  of  lit- 
tle assistance  in  the  rural  situation.  But  an  organiza- 
tion of  great  influence  and  social  value  is  the  Grange, 

•  "  Rural  Recreation,  a  Socializing  Factor,"  p.  190. 


138  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

the  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  which  is  frankly  endeavor- 
ing to  serve  the  economic,  intellectual  and  social  needs 
of  the  working  farmer  and  his  family. 

Founded  in  1867,  the  Grange  had  a  quiet  growth  for 
six  years,  then  suddenly  developed  surprising  strength 
in  the  panic  year  of  '73  because  of  the  popularity  of  its 
economic  program  for  the  relief  of  farmers,  just  when 
their  grievances  were  most  pressing.  On  the  crest 
of  this  mighty  wave  of  discontent  20,000  local  granges 
were  organized  within  two  years;  but  decline  soon 
followed  and  by  1880  the  movement  had  utterly  col- 
lapsed, as  suddenly  as  it  had  developed.  It  had  disap- 
pointed those  who  had  expected  too  much  of  it.  It 
could  not  make  good  its  promises  of  panacea  legisla- 
tion which  would  cure  all  the  troubles  of  the  farm ; 
and  many  of  its  academic  schemes  for  business  co- 
operation failed  ignominiously,  after  arousing  the 
steadfast  faith  of  thousands. 

The  order  was  not  dead  however.  It  never  declined 
in  New  England,  and  from  that  quarter  has  renewed 
its  strength  in  the  East  and  middle  West,  so  that  it  is 
now  more  prosperous  than  ever  in  its  history.  It  has 
little  hold  yet  in  the  South  or  far  West :  but  is  easily  the 
most  influential  farmers'  organization  in  the  country. 

The  Grange  has  done  a  splendid  service  in  thou- 
sands of  communities  by  uniting  the  people  of  all  ages 
on  a  broad  platform  of  mutual  benefit  and  community 
welfare.  Often  where  rival  churches  tend  to  divide 
the  neighborhood  unpleasantly,  the  Grange  unifies  with 
its  broad  fellowship  and  constructive  program.  Its 
greatest  service  has  been  social,  but  it  has  rendered 
also  large  educational  and  economic  service  and  has 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  I39 

taught  the  people  the  simple  fundamentals  of  cooper- 
ation. Out  of  the  wreck  of  its  earlier  experiments, 
its  mutual  fire  insurance  and  cooperative  purchasing 
have  survived  and  developed  successfully. 

Unique  among  fraternal  orders,  the  Grange  has 
emphasized  in  a  most  helpful  way  the  instruction  of 
the  people  in  all  matters  of  popular  interest,  par- 
ticularly on  subjects  relating  to  farming  and  the  farm 
home.  It  has  immeasurably  broadened  the  horizons 
of  countless  farm  women  and  has  thus  raised  the  whole 
level  of  rural  life  in  many  places.  In  promoting  social 
fellowship  in  countless  ways  it  has  relieved  the  bare- 
ness of  a  life  of  toil  and  its  plans  for  wholesome  rec- 
reation have  greatly  enriched  the  community  life. 
After  years  of  meager  opportunity,  country  folks  are 
apt  to  go  to  social  extremes,  and  the  Grange's  greatest 
danger  in  some  places  seems  to  be  to  yield  to  the 
pleasure-loving  spirit  rather  than  to  serve  all  the  vital 
needs  of  rural  people. 

II.    Business  Cooperation. 

Modern  Rural  Cooperative  Movements 

The  rather  reckless  plunge  of  the  Grange,  in  its  ear- 
lier years,  into  the  untried  schemes  of  business  cooper- 
ation expressed  the  very  general  belief  of  farmers  that 
somehow  their  common  interests  demand  cooperative 
enterprise  to  gain  real  success.  It  is  a  mighty  truth. 
They  blundered  only  in  details  of  method.  In  an  age 
of  trust  consolidation,  in  which  manufacturing  and 
commercial  interests  have  attained  wonderful  develop- 


I40  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

merit  and  success  by  merging  their  resources  and  their 
operations  under  united  management,  the  spirit  of  co- 
operation has  slowly  but  inevitably  made  its  way  in 
rural  life.  But  "  rampant  individualism  "  dies  hard ; 
and  most  farm  communities  are  still  competitive  rather 
than  cooperative. 

In  recent  years  however  there  has  been  a  most  en- 
couraging increase  of  cooperation  in  all  important  rural 
interests,  which  indicates  that  the  old  individualism  is 
doomed.  In  1907  there  were  over  85,000  agricultural 
cooperative  societies  with  a  membership  of  three  mil- 
lion different  farmers  (excluding  duplicates)  ;  a  large 
proportion  of  the  total  farm  operators  of  the  country, 
and  doubtless  the  most  progressive  of  them  all.  This 
number  included  1,000  cooperative  selling  agencies; 
2,400  cooperative  creameries  and  cheese  factories ; 
1,800  community  grain  elevators;  4,000  purchasing  so- 
cieties; 15,000  telephone  companies  on  cooperative 
lines;  15,650  cooperative  insurance  companies  and 
some  30,000  cooperative  irrigation  projects. 

Not  only  has  this  vast  development  of  cooperation 
served  to  unite  farmers  and  develop  common  initiative 
and  community  spirit;  it  has  greatly  reduced  the  ex- 
pense of  farm  business  and  the  cost  of  living.  Pro- 
fessor Valgren  estimates  that  mutual  fire  insurance 
saves  the  Minnesota  farmers  annually  $750,000.  Co- 
operative telephones  save  often  one-half  the  cost  of 
the  service.  Cooperation  reduced  the  price  of  reapers 
from  $275  to  $175 ;  of  sewing  machines  from  $75  to 
$40;  of  wagons  from  $150  to  $90;  and  of  threshers 
from  $300  to  $200.  The  Pepin  County  Cooperative 
Company  of  Wisconsin  did  about  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  I4I 

lion  business  in  the  year  1909  in  its  nine  retail  stores, 
A  far  greater  cooperative  plan  is  the  Right  Relation- 
ship League  which  has  a  hundred  successful  stores  in 
Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  though  incorporated  but 
six  years  ago. 

Cooperation  Among  Fruit  Growers 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  great  success  of  fruit  grow- 
ing on  the  Pacific  slope  would  have  been  impossible 
without  cooperation.  Individual  growers  were  at  the 
mercy  of  the  railroads  and  the  middlemen;  but 
unitedly  they  have  mastered  the  situation  and  control 
the  New  York  market.  The  fruit  is  inspected,  sorted 
and  packed  by  the  company,  not  by  the  individual 
growers,  and  thus  the  standard  is  maintained  and  all 
trickery  eliminated.  The  organization  is  able  to  get 
all  possible  advantages  in  the  way  of  low  rates  for 
large  shipments,  to  secure  ideal  accommodations  in  re- 
frigerated fast  freights  and  storage  warehouses;  and 
to  keep  in  touch,  by  telegraph,  with  the  market  condi- 
tions in  all  eastern  centers,  thus  preventing  over-sup- 

These  associations  often  purchase  for  their  members 
all  supplies  needed  in  the  business  and  keep  their  la- 
borers busy  in  the  slack  seasons  making  boxes,  crates, 
etc.,  so  that  they  are  able  to  develop  and  retain  a  per- 
manent force  of  skilled  labor  instead  of  depending  on 
the  precarious  supply  of  seasonal  help.  The  Grand 
Junction  Fruit  Growers'  Union  of  Colorado  bought, 
in  1906,  224  carloads  of  supplies  for  its  members,  both 
for  business  and  household  use. 

For  fifteen  years  past,  three- fourths  of  the  citrus 


142  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

growers  of  California  have  been  cooperating  success- 
fully and  are  most  efficiently  organized.  Their  central 
agency  markets  an  annual  product  worth  fifteen  mil- 
lions and  keeps  representatives  in  some  seventy-five 
leading  markets  of  America  and  in  London.  They 
command  the  highest  market  price  for  their  product 
and  distribute  it  at  a  saving  of  about  one-half  the  ex- 
pense. 

Some  Elements  of  Success  and  Failure 

Cooperation  is  succeeding  well  not  only  among  fruit 
growers,  but  producers  of  tobacco,  onions,  potatoes, 
tomatoes,  celery,  and,  to  a  limited  extent,  cereals.  Ex- 
perience has  proved  that  it  pays  for  farmers  of  a  whole 
section  to  specialize  on  the  same  product ;  and  the  most 
uniform  success  has  come  in  societies  that  are  purely 
cooperative,  that  is,  not  joint-stock  companies  with 
voting  power  according  to  shares,  but  one  vote  for  each 
member,  the  profits  being  of  course  proportionate  to 
the  relative  volume  of  business  each  contributes. 

Short-sighted  selfishness  resists  this  plan  and  yields 
slowly  to  pure  cooperation ;  but  experience  shows  that, 
as  Prof.  E.  K.  Eyerly  states,  "  in  the  stock  companies 
the  large  shareholders  are  tempted  constantly  to  in- 
crease the  dividend  rate  on  capital  at  the  expense  of 
the  other  patrons.  This  may  explain  in  part  the 
difficulty  of  the  cooperative  creamery  in  New  Eng- 
land to  hold  its  own,  where  only  20%  are  of  the  purely 
cooperative  type."  Dr.  Eyerly  includes  among  the 
more  common  causes  of  failure  individualism,  con- 
servatism, jealousy,  mercenary  traits,  poor  business 


SOCIAL   RECONSTRUCTION  I43 

management,  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  what  other  so- 
cieties are  doing,  and  lack  of  restrictions  on  share  vot- 
ing and  the  nimiber  of  shares  owned. 

In  the  local  beginnings  of  cooperation,  ingrained  self- 
ishness as  well  as  rural  suspicion  and  ignorance,  some- 
times blocks  progress.  When  the  strong  California 
Fruit  Growers'  Exchange  began  twenty  years  ago,  it 
had  difficulty  holding  some  of  its  members  to  their 
agreements.  After  pledging  their  crops  to  the  com- 
pany they  would  sometimes  yield  to  the  temptations 
offered  by  outside  buyers,  for  the  sake  of  greater  tem- 
porary profit;  but  after  a  few  lawsuits  this  tendency 
to  break  cooperative  contracts  was  entirely  checked. 

Our  Debt  to  Immigrants 

Unquestionably  this  great  cooperative  movement  of 
the  last  two  decades  means  an  entire  redirection  of 
rural  life  and  the  ultimate  conquest  of  its  worst  enemy, 
individualism.  We  must  thank  our  adopted  citizens 
for  the  main  impulse  given  to  this  movement.  Coop- 
erative principles  and  the  cooperative  spirit  have  been 
imported  from  Denmark,  Germany  and  Italy,  where 
they  had  already  proved  successful,  and  have  taken 
deep  root  in  our  middle-western  and  north-central 
states,  gradually  overcoming  the  native  Yankee  indi- 
vidualism characteristic  of  the  older  settlers.  Dr. 
Eyerly  of  Amherst  is  authority  for  the  statement  that 
the  only  successful  cooperative  stores  organized  in 
New  England  for  a  generation  past  have  been,  with 
one  or  two  exceptions,  among  foreigners. 

In  connection  with  the  interesting  fact  that  inter' 


144  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

state  immigration  also  stimulates  cooperation,  the 
same  writer  says :  "  In  those  parts  of  the  country  into 
which  there  has  recently  been  a  considerable  influx  of 
interstate  immigrants,  as  in  the  Pacific  coast  states,  in 
Texas  and  certain  other  parts  of  the  south  and  south- 
west, the  cooperativev  movement  has  rapidly  devel- 
oped. While  this  is  due  in  part  to  the  intensive  and 
specialized  agriculture  practiced  and  to  the  nature  of 
the  crops  grown,  e.  g.,  fruits  and  vegetables,  it  is  due 
also  in  part  to  the  transplanting  of  individuals  into 
new  social  groups  in  which  the  *  cake  of  custom '  is 
likely  to  be  brok'en  up  and  new  adjustments  made 
under  some  intellectual  leadership." ' 

The  Cooperative  Success  of  Denmark 

Sir  Horace  Plunkett  in  Ireland,  Raiffeisen  in  Ger- 
many and  Wollemborg  in  Italy  have  led  the  coop- 
erative movement  in  their  respective  countries  to  re- 
markable success;  but  the  classic  illustration  of  the 
wonderful  possibilities  for  rural  transformation 
through  cooperation  is  the  story  of  modern  Denmark. 
Space  forbids  adequate  description  here.  Suffice  it 
to  say  that  from  a  condition  dose  to  bankruptcy,  fol- 
lowing a  devastating  war  in  1864,  and  with  sadly  de- 
pleted fertility,  that  enterprising  little  nation  of 
farmers  has  become  the  richest  in  Europe  in  per  cap- 
ita wealth  and  about  the  most  productive.  An  en- 
lightened patriotism  working  through  cooperation  ac- 
counts for  the  change. 

The  Central   Cooperative  Committee  of  Denmark 

'Annals  of  the  Am.. Acad,  of  Pol.  and  Soc.  Sci.,  March,  1912,  p.  6x. 


SOCIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  I45 

controls  the  situation  with  consummate  skill,  with 
subordinate  societies  for  production  of  every  nature; 
for  the  manufacture  of  rural  products  such  as  butter 
and  cheese;  for  the  protection  of  credit,  insurance, 
health,  savings,  etc. ;  even  for  the  protection  of  the 
poor  farmer  against  the  loss  of  his  single  cow!  The 
movement  has  become  closely  identified  with  the  reli- 
gious and  patriotic  sentiments  and  in  fact  springs 
from  both. 

It  is  evident  that  with  this  strong  movement  for 
cooperation  developing  in  America,  two  things  must 
eventually  follow.  The  unsocial,  narrowly  sectarian 
church  must  go;  and  our  excessive  Anglo-Saxon  in- 
dividualism is  doomed, — that  unsocial  streak  in  rural 
life.  There  is  surely  a  new  spirit  of  cooperation  in 
our  country  communities  east  and  west  which  will 
ultimately  overcome  our  country  life  deficiencies  and 
make  it  the  most  satisfying  life  in  all  the  world. 
Meanwhile  the  struggle  is  far  from  won  and  for  men 
of  vision,  courage,  social  initiative  and  tact  there  is  a 
great  opportunity  for  leadership  in  social  reconstruc- 
tion which  will  challenge  and  reward  the  utmost  con- 
secration. 

Test  Questions  on  Chapter  V 

I. — How  do  you  account  for  the  extreme  independ- 
ence and  individualism  of  the  American 
farmer  ? 

2. — In  what  unsocial  ways  does  this  rural  individual- 
ism express  itself? 

3. — What  common  weakness  do  you  notice  in  every 
sort  of  rural  institution? 


146  THE  RURAL  PROBLEM 

4. — Why  do  city  people  as  a  rule  cooperate  more 

readily  than  most  country  people  do? 
5. — Why  has  it  proven  a  rather  difficult  task  to  or- 
ganize farmers? 
6. — How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  farmers 
have  less   influence  in   politics  than   lawyers, 
though  the  farmers  are  seventy  times  as  nu- 
merous ? 
7. — In  what  ways  do  farmers  need  to  cooperate  in 

their  business  relations?    Illustrate. 
8. — ^What  shows  the  failure  of  country  folks  to  co- 
operate in  religious  activities? 
9. — What  old-fashioned  forms  of  recreation  are  now 
seldom  seen  in  the  country?    What  has  taken 
their  place? 

10. — Why  is  a  wholesome  play  spirit  so  essential  to  the 
morals  of  a  community? 

II. — Suggest  different  ways  to  "socialize"  a  country 
community. 

12. — What  plans  for  rural  betterment  would  you  in- 
clude in  your  community  program  for  the 
people  to  work  out  together? 

13. — What  specific  plans  would  you  suggest  for  organ- 
ized play  and  community  recreation? 

14. — ^What  should  be  done  about  Sunday  baseball  in 
country  villages? 

15. — ^What  is  the  special  usefulness  of  the  Grange  in 
a  rural  community? 

16. — In  what  lines  of  business  has  cooperation  proved 
successful  in  the  country?  Illustrate  from  the 
fruit  growing  industry. 


SOCIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  147 

17. — Why  has  cooperation  proved  more  successful  in 
the  newer  sections  of  the  country  than  in  the 
East? 

18. — What  can  you  say  about  the  success  of  coopera- 
tion in  Denmark? 

19. — What  is  the  difference  between  a  joint-stock 
creamery  and  a  purely  cooperative  creamery? 

20. — In  what  ways  can  Christian  people  illustrate  the 
principles  of  brotherhood  and  cooperation  so 
as  to  overcome  the  social  deficiencies  of  coun- 
try life? 


CHAPTER  VI 
EDUCATION  FOR  COUNTRY  LIFE 


CHAPTER  VI 

Education  for  Country  Life 

How  Efficient  Rural  Citizenship  Is  Developed 
I.     Weaknesses  in  Rural  Education 

The  urbanized  country  school. 

Inferior  school  equipment  and  meager  support 

Weakness  of  the  district  system. 

Other  problems  of  the  country  school. 

II.    Modern  Plans  for  School  Improvement 

Arguments  for  and  against  consolidation. 
Advantages  of  purely  rural  centralization. 
A  thoroughly  modern  country  school. 
A  rural  high  school  course  of  study. 
Elementary  agriculture  and  school  gardens. 

III.    Allies  of  the  School  in  Rural  Education 

School  Improvement  Leagues. 

Rural  libraries  and  literature. 

Farmers'  institutes  and  government  cooperation. 

Agricultural  colleges  and  their  extension  work. 


CHAPTER  VI 
EDUCATION  FOR  COUNTRY  LIFE 

HOW  EFFICIENT  RURAL  CITIZENSHIP  IS  DEVELOPED 

I.    Weaknesses  in  Rural  Education. 

It  is  easy  to  blame  the  one-room  schoolhouse  for  the 
failures  of  rural  life.  It  would  be  fairer  to  say  the 
rural  schools  have  not  kept  pace  with  the  rising  stand- 
ards of  their  own  communities.  There  remains  a 
deal  of  sentiment  about  the  "  little  red  schoolhouse  " 
of  the  olden  time;  yet,  discounted  in  cash,  it  fails 
even  to  keep  the  building  painted.  A  recent  survey 
of  social  conditions  in  northern  Missouri  reports  that 
in  thirty  miles  of  travel  on  country  roads  not  one  un- 
painted  bam  or  farmhouse  was  observed,  but  every 
schoolhouse  was  out  of  repair. 

It  is  evident,  both  from  this  neglect  of  the  property 
and  the  meager  appropriation  for  school  support,  that 
the  farmer  to-day  has  no  special  loyalty  to  the  little 
red  schoolhouse.  In  fact  in  some  quarters  there  is 
great  dissatisfaction  with  the  schools  as  distinctly  hos- 
tile to  rural  life,  not  in  sympathy  with  rural  ideals, 
and  serving  mainly  as  a  "  gang-way  "  to  the  life  of 
the  town.  The  Country  Life  Commission  reports: 
"  The  schools  are  held  responsible  for  ineffective 
farming,  lack  of  ideals  and  the  drift  to  town.     This 

151 


152  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

is  not  because  the  rural  schools  as  a  whole  are  de- 
clining', but  because  they  are  in  a  state  of  arrested 
development,  and  have  not  yet  put  themselves  in  con- 
sonance with  the  recently  changed  conditions  of  life." 
The  country  people  have  a  right  to  insist  that  their 
schools  shall  fit  their  boys  and  girls  for  country  life, 
inculcate  in  them  a  genuine  love  for  the  country  and 
an  appreciation  of  rural  values,  with  the  natural  ex- 
pectation that  most  of  them  will  be  needed  on  the 
farm.  Even  if  a  third  of  the  pupils  should  ultimately 
go  to  the  city,  it  is  unjust  to  the  majority  and  to  the 
community,  to  make  the  country  school  simply  a 
preparation  for  city  life. 

The  Urbanized  Country  School 

"  The  education  given  to  country  children,"  says 
Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  "  has  been  invented  for  them 
in  the  town,  and  it  not  only  bears  no  relation  to  the 
life  they  are  to  lead,  but  actually  attracts  them  toward 
a  town  career." 

From  the  beginning,  doubtless,  teachers  have  been 
largely  city-trained.  Though  country-bred  perhaps, 
they  have  caught  the  city  fever  and  it  seems  to  be 
very  contagious.  They  have  brought  city  manners 
and  styles  in  clothing,  the  city  standards  and  ideals 
and  the  love  for  city  life.  Unconsciously  perhaps 
they  have  impressed  the  minds  of  children  with  the 
superiority  of  all  things  urban.  Even  the  text-books 
are  products  of  the  city.  The  city  curriculum  has 
been  adopted  whole, —  contrary  to  all  reason.  The 
teaching  material  often,  instead  of  being  connected 
with  the  farm,  echoes  the  distant  city's  surging  life. 


EDUCATION   FOR   COUNTRY   LIFE  1 53 

It  deals  with  stocks  and  bonds  and  commerce,  rather 
than  problems  of  the  dairy,  the  silo  or  the  soil. 

The  suggestive  power  of  such  books  and  teachers 
is  very  great  with  impressionable  children.  The  les- 
son is  quickly  learned  to  honor  commerce  above  farm- 
ing, city  speed  above  country  thoroughness,  superficial 
success  above  the  homely  virtues,  and  mere  numbers, 
bigness,  roar  and  hustle  above  the  lasting  joy  of 
tested  friendships.  With  the  young  minds  filled  with 
the  tales  of  the  wonderful  city,  which  rival  the 
Arabian  Nights  in  allurement,  the  wonder  is,  not  that 
so  many  are  dazzled  and  follow  the  flame,  but  that 
so  many  remain  on  the  farm.  Insofar  as  the  schools 
do  stimulate  the  two  great  disintegrating  tendencies 
of  rural  life,  the  townward  trend  of  the  boys  and 
girls  and  the  increase  of  absentee  landlords,  the  coun- 
try folks  have  a  right  to  complain.  Let  the  schools 
train  for  the  soil  rather  than  away  from  the  soil. 
Let  them  exalt  rural  ideals  and  develop  rural  inter- 
ests. Let  them  open  the  eyes  of  the  country  boys 
and  girls  not  for  fault  finding  and  discontent,  but  to 
see  the  beauty  of  the  country,  the  privilege  of  coun- 
try freedom  and  the  vast  possibilities  of  scientific 
farming  and  soil  productiveness.  Before  this  can  be 
done,  normal  schools  for  rural  teachers  must  move 
out  of  the  city,  or  import,  straight  from  the  country, 
enough  country  sense  and  sympathy  to  fit  the  teach- 
ers personally  for  their  tasks.  Probably  the  latter. 
To  meet  this  evident  need,  progressive  Wisconsin  has 
established  county  training  schools  which  give  pros- 
pective teachers  distinctly  the  rural  point  of  view ;  and 
more  than  sixty  normal  schools  have  established  spe- 


154  THE   CHALLENGE  OF    THE   COUNTRY 

cial  departments  for  the  training  of  teachers  in  coun- 
try life  and  the  essentials  of  a  rural  education. 
Meanwhile  some  serious  problems  handicap  the  rural 
school.^ 

Inferior  Equipment  and  Meager  Support. 

There  are  twelve  million  country  school  children 
in  the  United  States  and  only  half  that  number  of 
children  in  cities.  Yet  the  city  has  invested  twice  as 
much  as  the  country  in  public  school  property  and 
spends  far  more  for  school  support  each  year.  The 
average  country  boy's  education  costs  but  $12.52  a 
year;  -while  the  cities  spend  $30.78  annually  on  each 
pupil. 

The  question  is  a  fair  one,  should  the  boy  and  girl 
be  penalized  for  living  in  the  country?  Why  should 
the  boy  who  happens  by  the  accident  of  birth  to  live 
in  the  country  suffer  a  needless  handicap?  When 
cur  Puritan  ancestors  established  the  free  public 
school  system,  the  purpose  was  to  maintain  equal 
rights  for  all,  the  children  of  both  rich  and  poor 
alike.  The  welfare  of  a  republic  depends  on  the 
maintenance  of  this  principle. 

It  was  a  significant  way-mark  of  human  progress 
when  schools  were  established  in  every  community,  in 
city  or  country,  where  all  children  might  have  an 
equal  chance  before  the  law.  But  with  the  growth  of 
great  cities   and  the  decadence  of  once  prosperous 

^  Of  course  country  children  should  also  be  taught  much  about  city 
life;  city  children  should  be  taught  about  country  life,  and  in 
the  main  the  standard  curriculum  will  be  the  same.  The  point  to  be 
made  here  is  the  exceedingly  important  one  that  rural  schools  must 
be  made  to  fit  the  boys  and  girls  for  hanpy  and  efficient  life  in  rural 
communities.     This  is  the   specific  task  of  the  country  school. 


EDUCATION   FOR   COUNTRY    LIFE  155 

rural  communities,  the  country  boy  has  been  losing 
his  share.  The  city's  growth  has  in  many  ways  cost 
the  country  dear.  It  is  certainly  but  fair  that  in  re- 
turn the  state  as  a  whole  should  share  the  expense  of 
the  rural  school. 

The  Weakness  of  the  District  System 

A  relic  of  pioneer  days  when  rural  life  was  closely 

organized  within  small  communities,  the  district  unit 
for  school  management  still  persists  in  most  states  to 
the  present  day.  It  originated  in  Massachusetts,  but 
that  state  was  the  first  to  discard  it,  thirty  years  ago. 
Long  ago  Horace  Mann  declared  the  law  of  1789 
which  established  the  district  system  "the  most  un- 
fortunate law  on  the  subject  of  common  schools  ever 
enacted  in  the  state." 

The  school  district  is  too  small  a  unit  either  for 
school  management  or  taxation.  It  is  democratic  to 
a  fault ;  but  it  is  too  easy  for  stingy  individuals  to  con- 
trol the  situation  and  weaken  the  schools  by  their 
parsimony.  Local  jealousies  and  shameless  favor- 
itism also  make  the  system  bad.  The  loss  of  popula- 
tion has  naturally  aggravated  this  evil,  leaving  in 
many  a  once  thriving  school  a  little  lonely  group  of 
children,  devoid  of  any  enthusiasm  or  school  spirit. 
The  township  is  the  smallest  possible  unit  for  effi- 
ciency, and  the  county  unit,  so  successful  in  Georgia 
and  elsewhere  in  the  South,  is  better  still.  Ulti- 
mately the  state  is  likely  to  be  the  unit  both  of  school 
taxation  and  administration.  Only  thus  can  reason- 
able uniformity  and  standard  of  efficiency  be  main- 
tained, in  city  and  country. 


156  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

Other  Problems  of  the  Country  School 

Next  to  the  blunder  of  the  district  unit,  growing 
worse  in  the  face  of  a  shrinking  population,  is  the 
serious  difficulty  of  securing  capable  teachers  and 
holding  them  long  enough  to  gain  real  success.  The 
problem  of  maintenance  is  crucial  here.  So  small  are 
the  salaries,  men  are  rapidly  being  crowded  out  of 
the  ranks.  In  the  North  Atlantic  states  only  one 
teacher  in  seven  is  a  man ;  and  less  than  one  in  four 
in  all  the  country.  There  can  be  no  hope  for  better 
rural  schools  till  the  salary  is  made  respectable. 
Maryland,  North  Dakota  and  other  states  have  en- 
acted minimum  salary  laws  which  have  decidedly 
raised  the  standard. 

The  problem  of  supervision  is  a  serious  one,  espe- 
cially when  complicated  with  politics  as  is  often  true 
of  the  county  or  state  superintendency.  Professor 
H.  W.  Foght  significantly  suggests :  "  The  man  who 
supervises  the  schools  should  have  at  least  as  good 
an  academic  and  professional  preparation  as  the 
teacher  working  under  him.  This  is  seldom  the  case." 
The  incompetency  of  the  school  board,  and  the  un- 
willingness of  competent  men  to  serve,  still  further 
complicates  the  problem.  In  many  a  community  less 
earnest  attention  is  given  to  the  school  which  must 
train  the  boys  and  girls  for  life  than  is  given  to  the 
problem  of  breeding  horses  and  cattle. 

In  most  rural  communities  the  school  building  is 
still  the  little  building  of  the  "  box-car  type,"  unat- 
tractive without  and  bare  within,  and  as  devoid  of 
practical  utility  in  equipment  as  of  aesthetic  charm. 


EDUCATION  FOR  COUNTRY  LIFE  1 5/ 

Equipment  is  less  essential  than  personality,  but  to 
accomplish  results  with  such  a  handicap  is  heart- 
breaking work.  Slowly  the  modern  type  of  rural 
school  is  making  its  appearance  along  the  country- 
side; and  by  its  sheer  attractiveness  is  winning  back 
to  the  school  something  of  local  pride. 

The  great  problem  of  what  to  teach,  in  order  best 
to  fit  the  pupils  for  a  satisfying  and  successful  coun- 
try life,  is  only  beginning  to  be  faced  frankly  by 
many  rural  schools.  In  the  past  six  years,  however, 
the  idea  has  been  slowly  gaining  attention  that  the 
country  school  does  not  need  the  city  curriculum,  but 
requires  a  special  program  of  its  own.  This  involves 
much  more  than  the  technical  study  of  rudimentary 
agriculture,  but  it  must  include  that.  By  giving  the 
reasons  underlying  the  ordinary  processes  of  farm- 
ing and  introducing  the  boys  to  the  elements  of  the 
science  as  well  as  stimulating  them  to  become  profi- 
cient in  the  oldest  of  the  arts,  the  school  is  able  to 
arouse  a  real  ambition  to  remain  in  country  life  and 
be  a  successful  farmer  on  modern  lines. 

II.    Modem  Plans  for  School  Improvement. 

Arguments  for  and  Against  Consolidation 

The  centralization  of  country  schools  has  been 
forced  by  the  logic  of  circumstances.  "  Suppose  you 
start  to  a  creamery  with  lOO  pounds  of  milk,  and  45 
pounds  leak  out  on  the  way,  could  you  make  your 
business  pay  ?  "  asks  Dr.  J.  W.  Robertson,  a  Canadian 
leader.  "  And  still,  of  every  100  children  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools,  45  of  them  fall  out  by  the  way, —  in 


158  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

Other  words,  the  average  attendance  is  but  55%.  But 
the  consolidated  schools  in  the  five  eastern  provinces, 
with  their  gardens,  manual  training  and  domestic 
economy,  now  bring  97  of  100  children  to  school  every 
day,  and  with  no  additional  expense." 

Consolidation  is  simply  efficiency  applied  to 
the  rural  school  situation.  Instead  of  perhaps  eight 
separate  schools,  housed  in  badly  ventilated  and  in- 
sanitary buildings,  with  very  poor  equipment,  there  is 
one  central  building,  modern  in  construction  and  sat- 
isfactory in  every  detail.  Instead  of  eight  teachers 
wasting  time  over  six  to  fifteen  pupils  each,  with  no 
enthusiasm,  there  are  four  teachers  working  splen- 
didly in  team-work,  and  a  fine  school  spirit,  the  pu- 
pils attending  regularly,  partly  because  they  no  longer 
have  to  trudge  two  miles  to  school  but  are  conveyed 
at  public  expense  and  partly  because  they  are  more 
interested  in  a  really  effective  school.  The  saving  of 
waste  sometimes  makes  it  possible  to  conduct  such  a 
school  at  an  actual  reduction  in  expense  over  the  dis- 
trict system,  as  is  the  experience  in  South  Carolina. 
The  motive,  however,  is  not  economy  but  to  furnish 
the  children  better  teaching  and  better  facilities  for 
effective  education. 

While  consolidation  clearly  spells  greater  efficiency, 
the  plan  is  obviously  impossible  under  certain  con- 
ditions and  sometimes  undesirable.  In  a  widely  scat- 
tered country  the  small  district  school  is  the  only  alter- 
native to  instruction  at  home,  at  least  for  children 
under  high  school  age.  There  is  a  reasonable  limit  to 
the  distance  to  which  pupils  should  be  carried.  Opin- 
ions naturally  will  differ  greatly  in  determining  this 


Consoliflated  school  at  North  Madison,  Madison  Township,  Lake  County, 
Ohio.  F.ight  conveyances  filled  with  children  may  be  seen  lined  up  in  the 
foreground.  (Courtesy  of  A.  B.  Graham,  College  of  Agriculture,  Columbus, 
Ohio.) 


m^J"?    J"!'"    Swaney    School,    District    532,    McNabb,  Illinois.     Irwin    A. 
Madden,   Principal. 


EDUCATION   FOR   COUNTRY   LIFE  159 

reasonable  limit.  Furthermore  weather  conditions 
greatly  complicate  the  problem,  particularly  where 
muddy  roads  are  impassable  or  the  northern  climate 
prescribes  deep  snow  drifts  which  prohibit  transporta- 
tion. Of  course  even  the  neighborhood  school  syffers 
under  these  conditions;  but  the  consolidated  school 
in  a  large  township  would  be  obliged  to  close  during 
seasons  of  extreme  weather. 

Moral  and  social  objections  must  also  be  faced  in 
this  connection.  Granting,  as  everyone  must,  the 
efficiency  argument  for  the  centralized  rural  school, 
we  must  be  careful  that  our  teaching  efficiency  is  not 
gained  at  too  high  a  cost.  It  is  a  rather  serious  thing 
for  small  children  to  be  far  from  home  regularly 
through  the  day;  and  the  usual  viewpoint  of  the 
mother  easily  wins  our  sympathy.  We  have  less  con- 
sideration for  the  community  pride  which  suffers  when 
the  district  is  abolished  as  a  social  unit.  But  when 
we  are  reminded  of  the  actual  moral  dangers  to  which 
children  are  sometimes  subjected  in  the  privacy  of 
the  covered  wagon,  we  cannot  dismiss  the  objection 
lightly.  The  solution,  however,  is  not  in  the  direction 
of  the  inefficient  district  school,  for  that,  too,  has  its 
moral  dangers;  but  in  thorough  supervision  of  the 
transportation  under  trustworthy  adults. 

While  the  gospel  of  consolidation  is  rapidly  gain- 
ing, all  through  the  country,  closing  thousands  of 
unnecessary  schools  every  year,  the  movement  often 
meets  determined  opposition,  though  advocated  by  all 
leading  educational  authorities.  In  time,  however,  in 
a  disintegrating  community,  the  scarcity  of  children 
forces    centralization.    The    Indiana    statute    makes 


l60  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

this  automatic  by  its  very  sensible  provisions.  The 
law  enacted  eleven  years  ago  permitted  school  trus- 
tees to  close  schools  having  less  than  12  for  an 
average  attendance.  The  amended  law  of  1907  al- 
lowed the  abandonment  of  schools  with  an  attendance 
of  15  or  less  and  made  it  compulsory  if  the  number 
fell  below  13.  Consequently  679  rural  schools  in 
Indiana  were  abandoned  in  1904,  830  in  1906  and 
1,314  in  1908  and  in  the  latter  year  16,034  children 
were  carried  to  school. 

Advantages  of  Purely  Rural  Centralisation 

In  a  closely  settled  township  the  natural  center  for 
the  consolidated  school  is  the  village,  other  things 
being  equal.  But  if  the  center  is  a  city  or  a  large 
town,  results  are  not  ideal.  It  is  not  good  for  country 
children  to  be  village  or  city  commuters.  If  the  driver 
is  the  right  sort  of  a  man,  the  drive  itself  need  not  be 
harmful;  but  distance  from  home,  particularly  in  a 
village  among  strangers,  day  after  day,  is  not  a  good 
thing  for  most  children.  Furthermore,  to  add  the 
country  children  to  the  city  or  village  school  means 
one  more  method  of  exploiting  the  rural  neighbor- 
hoods and  urbanizing  the  children.  From  the  coun- 
try view-point  it  is  not  desirable.  The  town  school 
does  not  pretend  to  fit  for  rural  life,  but  is  frankly 
based  on  city  needs. 

The  purely  rural  type  of  consolidated  school  is 
gaining  in  favor.  To  this  plan  must  country  lovers 
look  for  a  school  which  combines  efficiency  with  real 
training  for  rural  life  and  avoids  many  of  the  objections 
to  village  centralization.     Professor  Foght  speaks  of 


EDUCATION   FOR   COUNTRY   LIFE  l6l 

it  v/ith  enthusiasm :  "  This  is  the  ideal  type.  It  con- 
templates the  establishment  of  the  school  right  in  the 
heart  of  the  rural  community,  where  the  child  can 
dwell  in  close  communion  with  nature,  away  from 
the  attractions  and  allurements  of  the  city.  In  such 
an  environment  establish  the  farm  child's  school. 
Build  it  good  and  large ;  equip  it  with  all  the  working 
tools  necessary  to  the  greatest  measure  of  successful 
work.  Add  broad  acres  for  beautiful  grounds  and 
garden  and  experimental  areas.  And  surely  the 
rural  school  problem  will  then  be  in  a  fair  way  to 
solution."  ^ 

A  Thoroughly  Modern  Rural  School 

The  finest  type  of  the  modem  rural  school  seems 
to  have  been  at  last  reports  the  "  John  Swaney 
School  "  in  Putnam  County,  Illinois,  located  in  the 
open  country  two  miles  from  the  small  village  of 
McNabb.  This  school  was  reported  to  the  Cleveland 
Convention  of  the  National  Education  Association,  by 
a  special  committee  on  rural  schools  "  as  affording  the 
best  illustration  of  public  sentiment,  private  liberality 
and  wise  organization  combined,  that  the  committee 
was  able  to  find  in  any  consolidated  district  in  the 
United  States."  In  making  this  report  Prof,  O.  J. 
Kern  said  further,  "  The  building  stands  near  the 
north  side  of  a  beautiful  campus  of  twenty-four  acres 
of  timber  pasture.  This  campus  was  donated  by  Mr. 
John  Swaney,  who  is  a  farmer  of  moderate  circum- 
stances, a  man  who  believes  in  better  things  for  coun- 
try children.     His  was  a  worthy  deed  in  behalf  of  a 

' "  The   American  Rural  School,"  p.   323. 


l62  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE   COUNTRY 

worthy  cause  and  should  prove  a  suggestion  and  an 
inspiration  to  public  spirited  farmers  in  other  com- 
munities. The  consolidated  school  is  an  illustration 
of  the  fundamental  fact  that  if  country  people  want 
better  schools  in  the  country  for  country  children, 
they  must  spend  more  money  for  education  and  spend 
it  in  a  better  way.    There  is  no  other  way." 

The  building  is  an  attractive  brick  building  located 
among  beautiful  shade  trees.  It  contains  four  reci- 
tation rooms  besides  a  large  auditorium  used  for  lec- 
tures, concerts  and  basket-ball;  two  laboratories,  two 
library  and  office  rooms,  girls'  play  room,  cloak  room, 
and  a  room  in  the  basement  for  manual  training  which 
is  well  equipped.  It  has  apparatus  also  for  teaching 
cooking  and  sewing.  It  is  equipped  with  steam  heat, 
running  water  by  air-pressure  system,  and  a  gasolene 
gas  generator.  The  campus  is  ample  for  agricultural 
work  besides  the  football  and  baseball  fields  and  ten- 
nis courts  and  the  home  for  the  five  resident  teachers. 

A  Rural  High  School  Course  of  Study 

In  the  high  school  department  of  this  consolidated 
school  a  well  balanced  curriculum  is  followed,  based 
upon  the  special  needs  of  rural  life,  strong  in  voca- 
tional courses,  yet  not  lacking  in  the  liberal  culture 
studies.  It  includes  the  following:  First  year,  Eng- 
lish I,  Algebra,  Physiology,  Agronomy  I  or  Latin, 
Household  Science  or  Manual  Training,  Physical 
Geography,  Horticulture  or  Latin.  Second  Year, 
English  II,  Algebra,  Geometry,  Zoology,  Ancient 
History,  Botany,  Animal  Husbandry  or  Household 
Science,  Drawing  and  Music.     Third  Year,  English 


Domestic  Economy  Rooms,  Macdonald  Consolidated  Scliool,  Guelph,  Canada. 


Manual    liaiiiiug    iJcjartment    of    the    Same  Schc  il. 


Manual  Training  in  a  Small   Rural   School,   Edgar  County,    lllii 


EDUCATION   FOR   COUNTRY    LIFE  163 

III,  Chemistry,  Agronomy  II  or  Latin  or  Household 
Science,  English  History,  Animal  Husbandry. 
Fourth  Year,  English  IV,  Physics,  Household 
Science  or  Agronomy  III,  American  History,  Book- 
keeping, Arithmetic  and  Civics.  The  farm  laboratory 
work  is  in  charge  of  experts  from  the  Illinois  Ex- 
periment Station. 

As  Dr.  Warren  H.  Wilson  states  so  well,  "  The 
teaching  of  agriculture  is  not  for  the  making  of  farm- 
ers, but  men  and  women.  It  must  be  more  than  a 
mere  school  of  rural  money-making.  The  teaching  of 
agriculture  needed  in  the  schools  is  for  the  purpose  of 
training  in  country  life.  The  country  school  must 
make  the  open  country  worth  while.  It  will  teach  ag- 
riculture as  the  basis  of  an  ideal  life,  rather  than  as  a 
quick  way  of  profits."  However,  though  this  is 
strictly  true  of  the  boys  who  study  agriculture,  if  they 
can  actually  become  proficient  enough  to  give  their 
fathers  points,  the  evident  "  practical "  value  of  the 
modern  school  will  appeal  so  strongly  to  the  farmers 
that  its  future  support  is  assured.  The  farmers  can- 
not be  blamed  for  having  little  love  for  the  school 
which  alienates  their  children  from  country  life;  but 
schools  which  really  train  for  rural  citizenship  will 
be  appreciated  by  the  country  folks.  And  in  time 
there  will  be  more  John  Swaneys,  men  who  will 
show  their  love  for  a  real  school  for  country  life  by 
endowing  it  after  the  manner  of  the  old  New  Eng- 
land academies. 

Elementary  Agriculture  and  School  Gardens 

To  delay  the  teaching  of  agriculture  until  the  high 


164  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

school  years  would  be  to  lose  its  most  strategic  value. 
It  should  be  a  regular  course  in  all  rural  schools,  be- 
ginning before  the  natural  rural  interests  have  been 
turned  to  discontent.  As  a  rural  educator  says, 
"  Let  them  early  learn  to  know  nature  and  to  love  it, 
and  to  know  that  they  are  indigenous  to  the  soil ;  that 
here  they  must  live  and  die.  Give  us  many  such 
schools,  and  the  farm  youth  is  in  no  danger  of  leav- 
ing the  farm." 

Although  agricultural  teaching  has  been  slowly 
winning  its  way  into  our  American  schools,  it  has 
been  a  feature  of  even  the  primary  schools  in  France 
since  1879  and  in  most  other  European  countries 
more  recently.  The  wonderful  agricultural  revival 
of  Denmark  dates  from  the  introduction  of  this  sub- 
ject in  the  schools.  Elementary  agriculture  is  taught 
in  every  rural  district  of  the  land,  and  it  gives  the 
children  that  love  for  the  very  soil  which  makes 
Danish  patriotism  unique. 

The  Macdonald  movement  in  Canada,  backed  by 
the  government,  has  put  that  country  well  in  the  lead 
on  our  continent  in  this  matter.  It  is  spreading  fast 
now  in  the  States,  however.  Seven  states  in  the 
South  alone  require  by  law  agricultural  instruction  in 
rural  schools.  Many  states  now  require  normal 
school  students  to  prepare  to  teach  the  subject  as  an 
essential  branch  of  rural  education;  so  that  its  fu- 
ture is  assured. 

The  laboratory  work  in  school  gardens  is  a  most 
interesting  feature  of  great  value.  Only  recently  has 
the  garden  movement  developed  in  America,  begin- 
ning in  Roxbury,  Boston,  in  1891 ;  but  every  Euro- 


EDUCATION  FOR  COUNTRY  LIFE  1 65 

pean  nation  but  England  popularized  it  long  ago. 
Comenius  believed  that  "  a  garden  should  be  con- 
nected with  every  school,"  and  his  country,  Moravia, 
early  enacted  this  conviction  into  law.  The  rural 
schools  of  Prussia  introduced  school  gardens  as  early 
as  1819;  and  they  are  now  common  everywhere  in 
continental  Europe.  The  movement  is  now  spread- 
ing fast  in  this  country  and  has  proved  very  success- 
ful in  stimulating  interest  in  listless  boys.  In  Day- 
ton, Ohio,  school  gardens  were  established  in  1903, 
and  it  has  been  observed  there  that  boys  taking  gar- 
dening make  30%  more  progress  than  others  in  their 
studies.  The  moral  effects  are  sometimes  notable,  es- 
pecially in  vicious  surroundings. 

III.    Allies  of  the  School  in  Rural  Education. 

School  Improvement  Leagues 

This  movement  started  in  Maine,  where  it  has  over 
60,000  members,  and  has  spread  to  other  states.  It 
seeks  to  stimulate  the  loyalty  of  pupils,  teachers  and 
patrons  to  the  schools  in  every  feasible  way.  It  gives 
coherence  and  direction  to  a  rising  local  pride  in  a 
successful  school  and  helps  greatly  to  develop  a  lo- 
cal school  spirit.  When  once  aroused,  this  interest 
can  be  directed  in  any  useful  way  which  is  most 
needed  at  the  time.  It  often  finds  most  natural  ex- 
pression in  beautifying  the  school  grounds  with  shrub- 
bery, trees  and  flowers,  and  in  furnishing  the  rooms 
with  pictures  and  artistic  decorations  of  real  merit. 
Rural  communities  are  proverbially  lacking  in 
aesthetic  taste,  and  this  is  the  best  method  conceivable 


l66  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

for  developing  it.  From  a  well-kept  schoolyard, 
and  schoolrooms  relieved  of  their  bareness  by  copies 
of  the  great  masterpieces,  there  will  radiate  all 
through  the  township  the  spirit  of  order  and  beauty 
which  will  bless  the  whole  community. 

Rural  Libraries  and  Literature 

The  state  of  Massachusetts,  where  the  first  free 
public  library  was  opened  long  ago,  now  has  such  an 
institution  in  every  town  and  city  of  the  Common- 
wealth. In  most  states,  however,  libraries  in  rural 
communities  are  not  common ;  but  in  many  states  trav- 
eling libraries  are  obtainable  from  the  state  librarian 
which  vastly  broaden  the  mental  outlook  of  the 
country  people.  In  these  days  of  abundant  books, 
it  is  easier  to  secure  books  than  it  is  to  be  sure  that 
the  books  will  get  read.  Rural  reading  circles  and 
literary  clubs  can  serve  their  communities  well  by 
helping  to  popularize  the  reading  habit,  and  advising 
in  the  choice  of  books. 

So  vast  has  the  country  literature  become  in  recent 
years,  one  can  little  imagine  the  great  educational 
service  of  the  numerous  farm  journals  and  magazines 
of  country  life.  Rare  is  the  farmer's  home  where 
none  of  them  enters.  They  have  apparently  great 
influence  in  broadening  the  horizons  of  the  farm  home 
as  well  as  teaching  the  people  the  newer  ideals  of  our 
rural  civilization.  So  popular  has  the  topic  of  rural 
life  recently  become,  many  non-rural  magazines  fre- 
quently bring  it  before  their  readers,  notably  the 
World's  Work.  As  a  magazine  devoted  to  all  the 
interests  of  the  country  life  movement,  and  frankly 


EDUCATION   FOR   COUNTRY   LIFE  I67 

religious  in  its  purpose,  Rural  Manhood  is  unique  in 
its  sphere.  It  is  the  organ  of  the  Rural  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and  by  its  remarkably 
broad  survey  of  rural  social  movements  has  made  it- 
self indispensable  to  lovers  of  the  country. 

Farmers^  Institutes  and  Government  Cooperation 

Space  forbids  even  the  enumeration  of  all  the 
agencies  and  methods  by  which  the  standards  of  rural 
education  are  being  raised.  Both  state  and  national 
governments,  the  state  experiment  stations  and  the 
department  of  agriculture  at  Washington  are  con- 
stantly reporting  the  latest  results  of  agricultural 
science  and  investigation  both  in  the  form  of  printed 
bulletins  and  public  sessions  of  Farmers'  Institutes 
and  similar  occasions.  The  great  majority  of  work- 
ing farmers  have  not  yet  learned  to  value  and  to  use 
these  privileges  as  they  should;  but  the  appreciative 
ones  who  do  use  them  are  becoming  constantly  bet- 
ter informed  about  the  secrets  of  country  life  and 
the  wonderful  ways  of  nature.  The  great  national 
organization  of  the  Grange,  by  its  local  discussions 
of  farm  topics  and  its  effective  lecture  work,  is  an- 
other of  the  great  educational  forces  in  rural  life,  and 
the  rural  church  and  minister  often  have  a  fine  educa- 
tional opportunity,  especially  in  country  communities 
where  the  educational  equipment  is  meager  and  the 
unmet  need  is  great. 

Agricultural  Colleges  and  their  Extension  Work 
Essentially  a  part  of  the  government  service,  the 


l68  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

State  colleges  of  agriculture  with  their  learned  facul- 
ties of  rural  experts  are  the  ultimate  authorities  in 
agriculture  and  all  rural  interests,  and  therefore  are 
both  the  climax  and  the  ultimate  source  of  education 
for  country  life.  With  the  remarkable  popularity  the 
past  five  years  of  rural  study  and  the  strong  trend 
toward  the  rural  professions,  the  agricultural  colleges 
are  probably  growing  faster  than  any  other  schools 
in  the  land.  The  Massachusetts  State  College  has 
doubled  in  numbers  and  doubtless  in  efficiency  in  the 
past  five  years,  and  many  other  schools  have  shown 
remarkable  development.  With  a  faculty  of  a  hun- 
dred men,  and  a  budget  this  year  of  half  a  million 
dollars,  the  New  York  State  College  of  Agriculture 
at  Cornell  has  become  in  reality  a  great  school  of 
liberal  culture  interpreted  in  terms  of  country  life.  Its 
enrolment  has  multiplied  by  five  in  the  past  nine  years. 
The  extension  work  accomplished  by  these  and  sim- 
ilar institutions  is  wonderfully  broad  and  more  and 
more  serviceable  to  the  people  of  their  several  states, 
as  their  community  of  interest  is  increasingly  appre- 
ciated. The  teachers  are  no  longer  "  mere  book 
farmers."  They  are  constantly  out  among  the  people 
for  every  variety  of  social  service;  and  the  people, 
once  or  twice  a  year  during  the  greiat  "  Farmers' 
Weeks  "  flock  to  the  college  by  the  hundred  with  no 
feeling  of  restraint  but  of  actual  ownership. 

It  is  thus,  from  the  humblest  "  box-car  school "  to 
the  great  university,  that  the  people  of  the  open  coun- 
try are  being  educated  to  appreciate  their  privileges 
and  to  live  a  more  effective  country  life.  It  is  a 
great  educational  movement,  .weak  and  halting  here 


EDUCATION   FOR  COUNTRY   LIFE  169 

and  there,  but  moving  on  with  a  better  sense  of  unity 
and  a  clearer  vision  of  the  goal,  with  every  passing 
decade.  It  all  gives  us  courage  to  believe  that  the 
providence  of  God  has  in  store  for  our  rural  America 
not  the  stolid  domination  of  a  rural  peasantry,  mere 
renters  and  pirates  of  the  soil,  but  ultimately  an  en- 
lightened, progressive  citizenship,  alert  for  progress 
and  unswerving  in  their  loyalty  to  "  the  holy  land." 

Test  Questions  on  Chapter  VI 

I. — Why  do  many  rural  communities  take  so  little 
interest  in  their  schools? 

2. — Show  how  most  rural  schools  train  country  chil- 
dren away  from  the  farms  to  the  city  instead 
of  fitting  them  for  country  life. 

3. — How  does  the  expense  of  American  rural  schools 
compare,  per  capita,  with  the  expense  of  the 
city  schools? 

4. — How  can  the  country  boys  and  girls  be  given  a 
fair  chance  in  our  public  school  system? 

5. — In  what  ways  does  the  district  school  plan  work 
badly  as  a  unit  of  management  and  of  taxa- 
tion? 

6. — What  is  wrong  with  the  construction  of  most 
country  school  buildings? 

7. — ^Why  is  the  consolidated  school  in  the  town  or 
village  a  bad  thing  for  children  from  the  farms  ? 

8. — State  the  efficiency  argument  for  consolidation  of 
rural  schools. 

9. — rDescribe  the  Indiana  law  on  this  subject  and  give 
your  opinions  about  it. 


170  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

10. — Show  the  superior  advantages  of  the  purely  rural 
type  of  centralized  school. 

II. — Describe  the  consolidated  rural  school  in  Illinois, 
known  as  the  "  John  Swaney  School,"  and  tell 
what  you  like  about  it. 

12. — How  do  you  think  a  high  school  course  of  study 
in  the  country  ought  to  differ  from  that  in  the 
city? 

13. — ^Why  should  agriculture,  domestic  science,  animal 
husbandry,  et  cetera,  be  taught  in  rural  schools  ? 
How  early  would  you  begin  ? 

14. — Compare  the  history  of  specific  education  for 
rural  life  in  Europe  and  in  America. 

15. — What  can  you  say  about  school  gardens  as  a 
feature  in  rural  education? 

16. — How  can  "  School  Improvement  Leagues  "  be- 
come powerful  allies  of  the  country  school 
forces  ? 

17. — What  are  some  of  the  educational  possibilities  of 
rural  libraries? 

18. — In  your  experience  what  educational  service  can 
Farmers'  Institutes  render  the  farming  com- 
munity ? 

19, — Show  something  of  the  broad  field  of  the  agri- 
cultural colleges  and  their  extension  work,  and 
the  part  they  take  in  rural  education. 

20. — Write  out  concisely  the  best  statement  you  can 
make  of  the  immediate  needs  in  rural  educa- 
tion and  the  constructive  policy  you  would  pro- 
pose to  meet  these  needs. 


CHAPTER  VII 
RURAL  CHRISTIAN  FORCES 


CHAPTER  VII 

Rural  Christian  Forces 

The  Community-Serving  Church  and  Its  Allies 

I.     Opportunity  and  Function  of  the  Country  Church 

Its  necessity  to  rural  progress. 

Stages  in  its  evolution,  and  its  changing  ideals. 

The  test  of  its  efficiency. 

The  church's  broad  function:  community  service. 

Its  high  responsibility:   spiritual  leadership. 

II.    Some  Elements  of  Serious  Weakness 

A  depleted  constituency.    Economic  weakness. 
Lack  of  social  cooperation.    Wasteful  competition. 
Poor  business  management    Moral  ineffectiveness. 
Narrow  vision  of  service.    Inadequate  leadership. 

III.  Some  Factors  Which  Determine  Its  Efficiency 

A  worthy  constituency. 

Local  prosperity  and  progressive  farming. 

Community  socialization.     A  community  serving  spirit 

A  broad  vision  of  service  and  program  of  usefulness. 

United  Christian  forces  in  the  community. 

A  broad  Christian  gospel ;  not  sectarian  preaching. 

A  loyal  country  ministry  adequately  trained  and  paid. 

A  liberal  financial  policy.    Adequate  equipment 

Masculine  lay  leadership  developed  and  trained. 

A  community  survey  to  discover  resources  and  needs. 

IV.  Some  Worthy  Allies  of  the  Country  Church 

The  country  Sunday  school. 
The  Rural  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
The  County  Work  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association. 

V.     Types  of  Rural  Church  Success 
Some  real  community  builders. 
The  church  in  the  open  country. 
Oberlin,  the  prince  of  country  ministers. 


CHAPTER  VII 
RURAL  CHRISTIAN  FORCES 

THE  COMMUNITY-SERVING  CHURCH  AND  ITS  ALLIES 

I.     The  Opportunity  and  Function  of  the  Country 
Church. 

Its  Necessity  to  Rural  Progress 

The  city  man's  judgment  of  many  things  rural  is  apt 
to  be  warped.  The  country  is  a  better  place  than  he 
thinks  it  is.  Country  institutions  are  doing  better  than 
he  thinks  they  are ;  and  the  country  church  is  by  no 
means  as  dead  and  useless  as  he  is  apt  to  imagine. 
Ridiculing  the  plan  to  federate  three  village  churches, 
a  typical  city  man  remarked,  "What  is  the  use? 
Three  ciphers  are  just  as  useless  together  as  alone !  " 
Such  a  superficial  verdict  must  not  be  accepted.  The 
church  in  the  country  is  certainly  involved  in  a  se- 
rious and  complex  problem.  In  many  places  it  is  de- 
cadent. In  most  places  it  is  easily  criticised  for  its 
meager  successes  in  this  age  of  progress ;  but  it  is  still 
essential  in  spite  of  its  defects. 

No  amount  of  unfavorable  criticism  can  refute  the 
fact  that  a  community-serving  church  is  the  most 
essential  institution  in  country  life.  Criticise  it  as 
we  may  for  its  inefficiency,  it  is  to  the  country  church 
that  we  must  look  to  save  the  country.  Even  though 
it  may  be  usually  a  struggling  institution,  inadequately 

173 


174  THE   CHALLENGE   OF   THE   COUNTRY 

equipped,  poorly  financed,  narrow  in  its  conception 
of  its  mission,  slow  in  responding  to  the  progressive 
spirit  of  the  age,  wasting  its  resources  in  fruitless 
competitions,  and  often  crude  in  its  theology  and 
ineffective  in  its  leadership, — nevertheless  it  is  bless- 
ing millions  of  our  people,  and  remains  still  the  one 
supreme  institution  for  social  and  religious  better- 
ment. It  may  be  criticised,  pitied,  ridiculed.  It  has 
not  yet  been  displaced. 

Because  the  rural  church  is  absolutely  essential  to 
the  rural  community,  it  must  be  maintained,  what- 
ever be  the  cost.  Let  surplus  local  churches  die,  as 
they  ultimately  will,  by  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  The  community-serving  church  must  live. 
The  man  who  refuses  to  sustain  it  is  a  bad  citizen. 
Dr.  Anderson  rightly  claims  "  The  community 
needs  nothing  so  much  as  a  church,  to  interpret  life; 
to  diffuse  a  common  standard  of  morals ;  to  plead  for 
the  common  interest;  to  inculcate  unselfishness, 
neighborliness,  cooperation;  to  uphold  ideals  and  to 
stand  for  the  supremacy  of  the  spirit.  In  the  de- 
pleted town  with  shattered  institutions  and  broken 
hopes,  in  the  perplexity  of  changing  times,  in  the 
perils  of  degeneracy,  the  church  is  the  vital  center 
which  is  to  be  saved  at  any  cost.  In  the  readjust- 
ments of  the  times,  the  country  church  has  suffered; 
but  if  in  its  sacrifices  it  has  learned  to  serve  the  com- 
munity, it  lives  and  will  live."  ^ 

To  condense  diagnosis  and  prescription  into  a 
single  sentence:  The  country  church  has  become  de- 
cadent where  it  has  ceased  to  serve  its  community. 

*  "  The  Country  Town,"  p.  299. 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN   FORCES  I75 

It  may  find  its  largest  life  again  in  the  broadest  kind 
of  sacrificial  service. 

Stages  of  Country  Church  Evolution 

In  this  rapidly  growing  country,  particularly  in  the 
past  century  of  empire-building  in  the  great  West, 
four  rather  distinct  stages  of  development  may  be 
traced  in  the  history  of  the  country  church.  As  the 
railroads  have  pushed  out  into  all  sections  for  the 
development  of  our  natural  resources,  the  apostles  of 
the  Christian  faith  have  usually  been  in  the  van  of  the 
new  civilization.  Too  often  they  have  been  apostles  of 
diverse  sects,  pious  promoters  coveting  for  the  church 
of  their  zeal  strategic  locations  and  a  favorable  ad- 
vantage in  the  conquest  of  the  country  for  The  King. 
But  in  general,  the  story  of  beginnings  in  the  plant- 
ing of  our  American  churches  has  been  a  tale  of  real 
heroism,  of  devotion  to  the  highest  welfare  of 
humanity  and  the  glory  of  God,  and  of  untold  sacri- 
fice. In  brief  these  stages  of  church  evolution  are 
as  follows; 

1.  The  period  of  pioneer  struggle  and  weakness, 
through  which  practically  all  churches  have  had  to 
pass. 

2.  Usually  a  period  of  growth  and  prosperity,  shar- 
ing the  growth  of  the  community;  or,  if  the  new 
town  failed  to  justify  its  hopes,  a  period  of  marking 
time,  under  the  burden  of  a  building  debt. 

3.  The  period  of  struggle  against  rural  depletion, 
the  rural  church  meanwhile  losing  many  members  to 
the  cities.  Apparently  a  majority  of  country  churches 
are  now  in  this  stage  and  for  many  of  them  it  is  a 


176  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

noble  struggle  for  efficient  survival.  Thousands  of 
churches  however  have  succumbed,  1,700  in  the  single 
state  of  Illinois. 

4.  The  ultimate  stage  of  this  evolution  is  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest,  the  inevitable  result  of  the  strug- 
gle. Most  churches  have  not  yet  worked  this  through, 
but  when  they  do,  it  is  by  readjustment  to  a  redirected 
rural  life.  It  costs  much  sacrifice  in  time  and  money. 
It  requires  the  church  to  study  frankly  its  situation 
and  to  surrender  cheerfully  old  notions  of  success 
and  to  broaden  its  ideals  of  service. 

Old  and  New  Church  Ideals 

The  pioneer  type  of  the  circuit-rider  church  may 
still  be  found  among  the  mountains  and  other  neg- 
lected or  scattered  sections  of  the  country.  Its  ideal 
of  success  is  very  simple:  a  monthly  preaching  serv- 
ice when  the  "  elder  "  makes  his  rounds ;  and  an  an- 
nual "  protracted  meeting  "  in  which  the  leader  "  prays 
the  power  down  "  and  all  hands  "  get  religion,"  pre- 
sumably enough  to  last  them  through  the  year.  For 
this  kind  of  success  only  three  factors  seem  to  be  essen- 
tial :  a  leader  with  marked  hypnotic  power,  an  expectant 
crowd  ready  to  respond  to  his  suggestion,  and  a 
place  to  meet.  The  place  may  be  simply  a  roof  over 
a  pulpit.  Results  are  meager  and  the  same  souls, 
may  be,  have  to  be  saved  next  year. 

We  would  not  deny  the  itinerant  heroes  of  pioneer 
days  the  credit  they  deserve  for  their  self-sacrificing 
labors.  Unquestionably  they  served  their  genera- 
tion well,  as  well  as  conditions  allowed.     But  most 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  177 

churches  have  outgrown  this  low  ideal  of  success. 
They  plan  a  more  continuous  work.  They  desire 
more  than  merely  emotional  results.  They  appeal  to 
intelligence  and  to  the  will  and  make  the  culture  of 
Christian  character  the  great  objective.  Such  work 
is  vastly  important;  but  a  still  higher  and  broader 
standard  must  be  raised  to-day  for  country  church 
success. 

A  few  weeks  ago  there  came  from  an  ambitious 
and  active  country  minister  (who  evidently  wanted  a 
city  church)  a  tabulated,  type-written  statement  of 
his  work  for  the  year.  According  to  widely  accepted 
standards  it  was  evidence  of  his  efficiency  and  the 
success  of  his  church.  It  gave  the  number  of  ser- 
mons he  had  preached,  the  calls  he  had  made,  the 
prayer  meetings  he  had  led,  the  Sunday  school  ses- 
sions attended,  the  number  of  conversions  and  addi- 
tions to  his  church  membership,  the  number  of 
families  added  to  his  parish  roll,  the  number  of  people 
he  had  baptized,  married  and  buried;  the  average  at- 
tendance at  all  services,  the  size  of  his  Sunday  school, 
the  amount  of  money  raised  for  church  expenses  and 
for  benevolences,  the  sums  expended  for  repairing  the 
property, — for  all  of  which  we  were  asked  to  praise 
the  Lord.  To  be  sure,  it  was  a  rather  praiseworthy 
record,  and,  on  the  strength  of  it,  this  particular 
country  minister  was  called  to  a  city  church!  He 
will  not  be  any  happier  there,  his  salary  will  not  go 
any  farther  there,  and  he  will  probably  have  less  in- 
fluence; but  he  has  attained  the  dignity  of  a  city 
minister,  the  goal  of  many  a  man's  ambition.  Alas 
that  so  many  of  us  seem  to  forget  that  the  Garden 


178  THE   CHALLENGE   OF   THE   COUNTRY 

of  Eden  was  strictly  rural ;  and  that  it  was  only  when 
mankind  was  driven  out  of  it  that  they  went  off  and 
founded  cities! 

This  case  is  a  typical  one.  We  are  still  too  apt 
to  reckon  the  success  of  a  church  in  statistics  re- 
ported in  the  denominational  Yearbook.  The  book 
of  Numbers  is  a  poor  Gospel.  Let  us  not  dis- 
parage the  importance  of  adding  forty  people  to 
the  church  membership,  or  doubling  the  size  of 
the  Sunday  school,  or  tripling  the  benevolences,  or 
increasing  the  congregations.  These  things  are  all 
splendid,  every  one  of  them,  and  indicate  a  live 
church  and  an  active,  consecrated  minister;  but  they 
are  not  ultimate  tests  of  a  church's  efficiency. 

The  Test  of  Its  Efficiency 

We  must  admit  that  the  real  business  of  a  Christian 
Church  is  not  to  swell  its  membership  roll  or  to  add 
to  the  glory  of  its  particular  sect  or  to  raise  enough 
money  for  its  own  support  and  keep  its  property 
painted,  nor  even  to  get  the  community  into  the 
church.  The  business  of  the  church  is  to  get  the 
religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  into  the  community 
and  thence  into  all  the  world.  If  it  is  not  doing  that 
it  is  not  succeeding.  It  is  succeeding  only  in  propor- 
tion as  it  is  accomplishing  that;  for  its  business 
is  to  Christianize  that  community. 

Dr.  Gladden  is  right  when  he  says  that  the  test 
of  the  efficiency  of  the  church  must  be  found  in  the 
social  conditions  of  the  community  to  which  it  minis- 
ters.   To    be    sure    the    church    should    emphasize 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN  FORCES  179 

evangelism  and  the  need  of  church  membership.  Let 
it  add  to  its  strength,  in  order  to  become  a  strong, 
effective  organization.  But  let  it  remember  that  this 
is  but  a  means  to  an  end.  Let  it  keep  in  mind  the 
immediate  object  of  its  work,  to  Christianize  its  com- 
munity. 

I  would  say  then,  a  country  church  is  efficient  if 
it  not  only  gets  its  people  "  right  with  God  "  but  also 
right  with  one  another;  if  it  not  only  saves  them  for 
the  life  of  heaven,  but  helps  them  to  begin  the 
heavenly  life  right  now ;  if  it  not  only  furnishes  op- 
portunity for  the  worship  of  God,  in  simplicity  and 
truth,  but  also  proves  the  sincerity  of  its  worship  in 
deeds  of  Christian  service;  if  it  furnishes  spiritual 
vision  and  power,  faith,  hope  and  love,  those  unseen 
things  that  are  eternal,  but  also  mints  these  essentials 
of  religion  in  the  pure  gold  of  brotherly  sympathy 
and  kindness. 

The  Church's  Broad  Function:  Community  Service 

The  efficient  church  will  not  only  perform  the 
priestly  function  of  mediating  between  God  and  men, 
until  in  the  holy  place  men  feel  the  hush  and  peace 
and  power  of  God's  presence.  It  will  also  inspire  men 
in  a  practical  way  to  perform  the  duties  of  life.  It 
will  not  only  bring  men  into  the  conscious  presence 
of  God.  It  will  somehow  bring  the  love  of  God  into 
the  lives  of  men.  It  will  increase  the  kindness  and 
brotherliness  and  sympathy  of  men  and  women  to- 
ward each  other.  It  will  stimulate  fair-dealing  in  all 
business  relations  and  put  an  end  to  injustice  toward 


l80  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

the  weak.  It  will  help  to  reduce  poverty,  vice  and 
crime.  It  will  encourage  pure  politics  and  discourage 
graft.  It  will  set  a  high  standard  for  the  play  life 
of  the  community  and  make  amusements  purer  and 
more  sensible.  It  will  even  endeavor  to  raise  the 
level  of  practical  efficiency  on  every  farm,  making 
men  really  better  farmers  because  they  are  real 
Christians.  It  will  help  to  make  more  efficient  homes 
and  schools,  to  give  every  boy  and  girl  a  fair  chance 
for  a  clean  life,  a  sound  body,  a  trained  mind,  help- 
ful friendships  and  a  useful  career. 

The  efficient  country  church  will  definitely  serve  its 
community  by  leading,  when  possible,  in  all  worthy 
efforts  at  community  building,  in  uniting  the  people 
in  all  cooperative  social  endeavors  for  the  general 
welfare,  in  arousing  a  real  love  for  country  life  and 
loyalty  to  the  country  home;  and  in  so  enriching  the 
life  of  its  community  as  to  make  "  country  living  as 
attractive  for  them  as  city  living,  and  the  rural  forces 
as  effective  as  city  forces." 

Its  High  Responsibility:  Spiritual  Leadership 

The  inaugural  program  of  Jesus  in  Luke  4:18-19 
suggests  the  business  of  his  followers:  to  minister  to 
the  vital  necessities  of  needy  men.  Broadly  speaking, 
every  work  for  human  betterment  is  "our  Father's 
business,"  yet  the  supreme  function  of  the  church  is 
spiritual.  It  stands  in  a  material  world  for  an  un- 
seen God  and  an  eternal  life.  It  must  constantly 
furnish  spiritual  vision  and  inspiration  to  weary  men 
and  women  for  the  living  of  their  lives.    To  do  this, 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  l8l 

the  church  must  provide  the  opportunity  for  public 
worship,  in  sincerity,  impressiveness  and  truth.  It 
must  somehow  bring  the  life  of  God  into  the  lives 
of  men. 

Surely  the  church  owes  the  community  a  prophetic 
service  also,  bringing  God's  great  messages  to  human 
lives,  throbbing  with  divine  sympathy  for  all  human 
needs,  courageously  challenging  the  man  to  whom 
the  vision  comes,  to  live  the  better  life,  and  offering 
practical  and  immediate  help,  the  help  of  Christ,  to 
live  that  life.  The  spiritual  service  of  a  vital  church 
will  include  a  vivid  portrayal  of  the  Christ,  his  per- 
son, his  teachings,  his  radiant  character,  his  saving 
power,  the  dynamic  for  life  which  flows  from  him 
into  every  life  which  accepts  his  comradeship.  All 
this  and  more. 

We  should  avoid  however  the  dangerous  distinction 
between  the  sacred  and  the  secular.  The  superficial 
exaltation  of  the  spiritual  function  of  the  church  is 
sometimes  merely  a  cloak  for  laziness.  Often  a  well 
conducted  church  social  has  spiritual  results  and  a 
boys'  camp  becomes  a  "  means  of  grace."  Unless  a 
man  is  pure  spirit,  the  work  of  the  church  is  more 
than  "  saving  souls."  Soul  and  body  are  in  this  life 
inseparable  and  interdependent.  A  saved  man  must 
be  redeemed  soul  and  body,  in  mind  and  spirit,  as 
well  as  in  all  his  social  relations. 

A  religion  which  aims  merely  to  save  a  man's  soul, 
and  otherwise  neglects  him,  is  superficial,  and  fails 
to  appeal  to  a  whole  man's  manhood.  The  subtle  re- 
actions of  life  warn  us  that  the  soul's  environment 
must  be  redeemed,  or  it  stands  little  chance  of  per- 


l82  THE   CHALLENGE   OF   THE   COUNTRY 

manent  salvation.  Here  is  the  nexus  between  in- 
dividual and  social  salvation.  Christian  social  service 
is  necessary  to  conserve  the  results  of  evangelism. 
Unite  them,  and  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand. 

Let  the  Church  Furnish  Dynamic  and  Leadership 

But  the  church  should  not  scatter  its  energies  and 
"  dilute  its  evangelism  "  by  attempting  to  do  every- 
thing as  an  organization.  Let  it  discharge  its  respon- 
sibility for  social  welfare  indirectly  when  possible, 
through  other  organizations  or  individuals.  Its 
broadest  service  will  ever  be,  as  in  the  past,  to  furnish 
the  inspiration  and  the  dynamic  for  many  secondary 
agencies  for  social  service  and  human  betterment. 
But  the  church  must  either  do  the  needed  work  or 
get  it  done. 

It  should  duplicate  no  social  machinery  or  effort, 
but  should  supplement  all  other  local  institutions  and 
perfect  their  service  by  its  own  service  of  the  higher 
life  of  the  community.  Let  the  church  be  the  climax  of 
the  social,  educational,  philanthropic,  health-restoring, 
peace-preserving  forces  of  the  community.  Ideally 
it  will  federate  them  all  in  community  leadership. 
Where  these  forces  are  lacking,  the  church  should 
assume  these  functions,  if  the  community  welfare  de- 
mands it;  as  actually  takes  place  on  many  a  mission 
field. 

Well  might  every  country  church  adopt  this  plat- 
form, adapted  from  the  Open  Church  League:  "In- 
asmuch as  the  Christ  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto 
but  to  minister,  this  church,  moved  by  his  spirit  of 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  183 

ministering  love,  seeks  to  become  the  center  and 
source  of  every  beneficent  and  philanthropic  effort, 
and  to  take  a  leading  part  in  every  movement  which 
has  for  its  end  the  alleviation  of  human  sorrow  and 
suffering,  the  saving  of  men  and  the  bettering  of 
this  township  as  a  part  of  the  great  Kingdom  of  God. 
Thus  we  aim  to  save  all  men  and  all  of  the  man,  by 
all  just  means ;  abolishing  so  far  as  possible  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  religious  and  the  secular,  and  sanc- 
tifying all  means  to  the  great  end  of  saving  the  world 
for  Christ." 

II.     Some  Elements  of  Serious  Weakness. 

It  is  with  no  lack  of  sympathy  for  country  minis- 
ters or  churches  that  we  offer  these  suggestions  as  to 
what  is  wrong  with  the  country  church.  Often  the 
conditions  of  the  environment  are  largely  responsible, 
and  sometimes  the  churches  are  not  to  blame.  Many  of 
them  are  facing  their  difficulties  nobly,  not  a  few  of 
them  successfully.  In  fact  many  country  churches 
are  doing  better  than  most  city  churches.  By  way  of 
diagnosis  the  following  brief  suggestions  are  offered 
to  account  in  part  for  the  serious  difficulty  in  the 
present  situation. 

I.  A  Depleted  Constituency.  The  first  element  in 
the  problem  is  the  inevitable  isolation  in  the  open  coun- 
try and  the  depletion  of  population  in  thousands  of 
villages.  We  find  often  not  merely  loss  of  numbers, 
but  impoverished  vitality  in  many  of  those  who  re- 
main. This  is  weakness  in  personality,  always  an 
ultimate  problem. 


184  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

2.  Economic  Weakness.  Impoverished  soil,  poor 
agricultural  conditions,  and  bad  farming  are  found 
all  too  frequently.  The  church  immediately  suffers. 
It  is  no  mere  coincidence  that  the  best  country 
churches  are  always  found  among  successful  farm- 
ers. The  church  can  hardly  be  more  prosperous 
than  its  community. 

3.  Lack  of  Social  Cooperation.  Extreme  in- 
dividualism is  still  the  curse  of  the  open  country. 
There  has  been  little  cooperation  yet  in  industry, 
recreation,  or  religion.  Consequently  the  church  has 
been  too  often  merely  an  occasional  congregation  of 
separate  individuals  with  few  interests  in  common; 
instead  of  a  working  body  of  vitally  interested  people, 
organized  for  the  redemption  of  the  community. 

4.  Wasteful  Competition.  This  particular  factor  is 
not  very  serious  in  the  South;  but  elsewhere  there 
are  usually  found  too  many  rival  churches,  selfishly 
struggling  for  life,  but  doing  little  to  serve  their  com- 
munity. This  condition  is  the  result  of  excessive  in- 
dividualism, selfishly  insisting  on  its  own  peculiar 
sect;  or  the  depletion  of  a  once  populous  village;  or 
the  early  blunders  of  denominational  "  strategy,"  start- 
ing a  church  where  it  never  was  needed. 

5.  Poor  Business  Management.  We  are  seldom 
likely  to  find  any  business  system  in  the  country  church. 
As  a  rule  they  have  no  financial  policy,  no  plan  for 
the  future,  small  salaries  for  the  ministers  and  often 
in  arrears.  Their  short-sighted  method  is  simply 
"  ther  short-haul "  on  the  pocket-book,  with  a  sub- 
scription paper;  planning  only  for  the  current  year. 
Inefficiency  of  course  results  from  such  poor  business. 


This  chart  shows  a  portion  of  Center  County,  Pennsylvania, 
in  which  there  are  i6  churches  within  a  circle  with  a  radius  of 
three  miles.  There  are  24  churches  within  the  larger  circle 
having  a  radius  of  four  miles.  Several  other  churches  are  in 
close  proximity,  making  in  all  the  29  churches  shown  in  this 
Sparsely  settled  community. 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN    FORCES  185 

6.  Moral  Ineffectiveness.  Many  country  cliurches 
have  lost  the  respect  of  their  communities  and  their 
local  support,  because  of  their  lack  of  vital  religion 
which  makes  character  and  deeds  of  spiritual  power. 
They  do  not  prove  their  genuine  brotherliness  in  an 
unselfish  service  of  the  community.  Amid  their 
petty  rivalries,  they  are  struggling  merely  to  save 
themselves  rather  than  the  community,  forgetting  the 
words  of  Jesus :  "  He  that  would  save  his  life  shall 
lose  it." 

7.  Narrow  Vision  of  Service.  The  country  church 
is  seldom  progressive  and  has  little  idea  of  the  modern 
social  vision.  Few  churches  have  yet  seen  their  great 
chance  to  serve  broadly  the  interests  and  needs  of  the 
whole  community.  They  flatter  themselves  upon 
their  faithfulness  to  spiritual  standards;  though  the 
fact  is,  they  are  neglecting  a  great  opportunity  and 
hence  missing  the  loyal  appreciation  of  their  people. 

8.  Inadequate  Leadership.  The  country  ministry 
is  too  apt  to  be  an  untrained  ministry,  sadly  lack- 
ing in  professional  preparation.  Lack  of  a  strong 
personality  in  pulpit  and  parsonage  makes  church  suc- 
cess difficult.  But  the  main  weakness  here  is  the  fact 
that  a  majority  of  the  country  churches  actually  have 
no  pastor  at  all.  They  have  a  preacher,  part  of  the 
time;  but  he  lives  in  the  village  seven  miles  away. 
He  supplies  the  pulpit,  marries  the  living  and  buries 
the  dead.  The  lack  of  a  resident  pastor  living  on  the 
land  with  his  people  is  almost  a  fatal  weakness  in  a 
country  church.  The  most  eloquent  preaching  never 
compensates  for  this  loss. 


l86  THE   CHALLENGE   OF   THE   COUNTRY 

III.    Some  Factors  Which  Determine  Country 
Church  Efficiency. 

Surely  this  matter  of  making  a  country  church  suc- 
cessful is  no  simple  problem.  It  is  complex  enough 
to  be  fascinatingly  interesting.  Its  very  difficulty  is  a 
challenge  to  strong  men.  We  shall  attempt  to  state 
the  most  important  factors  which  make  for  efficiency. 
All  are  important ;  some  are  quite  essential.  A  church 
is  efficient  in  proportion  as  it  has  developed  these  ele- 
ments of  strength. 

I.    A  Worthy  Constituency 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  first  essential  factor  is 
folks.  The  reason  some  earnest  ministers  prefer  to 
work  in  the  city  is  because  there  are  more  people 
there.  A  congregation  to  lead  in  worship  and  to  in- 
spire with  ideals  for  Christian  service  is  quite  essen- 
tial. A  minister  must  have  people  to  whom  to  min- 
ister. Churches  can  live  without  bells,  organs,  pul- 
pits, fine  architecture,  or  even  ministers  for  awhile. 
We  can  sing  without  hymn  books  or  choir ;  pray  with- 
out missal,  prayer  book  or  surplice ;  worship  comfort- 
ably without  cushions  or  carpets;  commune  without 
silver  plates  or  golden  chalices  or  individual  glasses. 
The  one  thing  which  is  the  sine  qua  nan  is  a  congrega- 
tion.   The  church  must  have  people. 

This  does  not  mean  that  success  will  depend  upon 
great  numbers,  though  depleted  numbers  cause  seri- 
ous discouragement.  A  country  minister  has  a  splen- 
did chance  for  a  thorough,  intensive  work  with  indi- 
viduals and  families,  which  is  denied  a  pastor  with  a 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN   FORCES  187 

larger  flock.    Yet  the  church  must  have  a  constitu- 
ency or  it  is  not  needed  and  of  course  cannot  succeed. 


2.  Local  Prosperity  and  Progressive  Farming 

Some  one  may  ask,  *'  Why  haven't  you  mentioned 
first  of  all  the  blessing  of  God,  as  the  great  essential 
to  success  ?  "  Surely  unless  the  Lord  builds  the  house 
he  labors  in  vain  that  builds  it.  We  are  simply  as- 
suming this  as  an  axiom.  Our  work  must  always  be 
done  in  partnership  with  God.  Success  itself  is  the 
evidence  of  His  favor.  To  win  that  favor  we  must 
take  the  natural  steps  to  win  success. 

Our  second  suggestion  is  local  prosperity  and  pro- 
gressive farming.  Dr.  Wilson  calls  the  country 
church  "  the  weather  vane  of  community  prosperity." 
It  might  be  more  accurately  called  the  barometer, 
for  the  church  shows  promptly  the  degree  of  the  pres- 
sure of  economy  due  to  poor  crops  or  bad  farming. 
Impoverished  soil,  poor  agricultural  conditions  and 
bad  farming  explain  the  failure  of  many  a  country 
church.  You  can  build  a  city  on  a  rock  (like  New 
York)  or  even  on  the  sand  (like  Gary) ;  but  you  can- 
not hope  to  build  a  prosperous  country  community  or 
rural  church  on  poor  soil. 

Professor  Carver  tells  us  forcibly  that  "  the  world 
will  eventually  be  a  Christian  or  a  non-Christian  world 
according  as  Christians  or  non-Christians  prove  them- 
selves more  fit  to  possess  it, —  according  as  they  are 
better  farmers,  better  business  men,  better  mechanics, 
better  politicians."  It  is  certainly  the  wisest  kind  of 
policy  for  the  church  to  help  to  make  its  community 


l88  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

prosperous.  It  is  not  only  a  fine  way  to  serve  the 
community ;  it  is  a  prime  essential  to  its  own  ultimate 
success.  Many  a  rural  church  is  languishing  because 
of  bad  economics  in  the  community.  Let  it  face  the 
problem  man-fashion  and  do  something  besides  pray 
about  it.  Let  it  prove  the  sincerity  of  its  prayers  by 
earnest  plans  and  deeds  to  make  its  community  pros- 
perous. 

This  is  exactly  what  was  done  in  a  certain  Wiscon- 
sin village.  By  the  fiat  of  the  railroad,  which  sud- 
denly changed  its  plans,  half  the  people  moved  away 
in  a  day,  leaving  community  institutions  maimed  and 
everybody  discouraged.  It  was  the  wise  minister 
who  saved  the  day  by  organizing  the  farmers  and 
planning  with  them  a  new  local  industry.  He  induced 
a  pickle  factory  to  build  in  the  community  provided 
the  farmers  would  raise  cucumbers  on  a  large  scale. 
He  was  even  able  to  turn  the  village  store  into  a  co- 
operative enterprise  which  succeeded  in  running  at  a 
profit.  This  minister  saved  his  church  by  saving  the 
community. 

That  prince  of  country  ministers,  Johann  Friedrich 
Oberlin,  laid  the  foundation  of  his  sixty  years  of 
pastoral  success  in  the  Vosges  Mountains  in  the  new 
local  prosperity  which  was  developed  under  his  lead- 
ership. He  was  utterly  unable  to  succeed  until  he 
had  taught  his  people  how  to  become  better  farmers, 
and  thus  to  rise  above  the  low  level  of  incompetence 
and  ignorance  which  had  kept  them  almost  immune 
to  religious  appeals  and  had  kept  their  churches  piti- 
able failures.  His  astonishing  success  won  for  him 
the  official  recognition  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  from 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  1 89 

the  King  of  France.  What  he  was  able  to  do  under 
great  difficulties  could  be  done  to-day  by  thousands 
of  rural  churches  and  ministers,  if  they  determined 
to  do  it.  Let  them  first  make  their  community  pros- 
perous ;  then  their  church  will  share  the  prosperity. 

3.  Community  Socialization 

Prosperous  and  happy  rural  communities  have  out- 
grown the  selfish  independence  of  the  pioneer  past  and 
have  learned  how  to  live  together  eflfectively  in  a 
socially  cooperative  way.  But  a  great  many  rural 
places  are  still  scourged  by  grudges  and  feuds  and 
other  evidences  of  individualism  gone  to  seed.  This 
accounts  also  for  many  small  churches,  the  result  of 
church  quarrels.  Country  churches  cannot  succeed 
until  the  people  learn  how  to  live  together  peaceably 
and  effectively,  to  cooperate  in  many  details  of  the 
community  life,  to  utilize  the  various  social  means 
for  community  welfare.  To  be  sure  the  church  can 
greatly  help  in  this  socializing  process.  It  can  lead 
in  making  the  local  life  cooperative,  educationally, 
agriculturally,  socially,  morally;  and,  if  it  succeeds, 
the  church  will  be  the  first  to  reap  the  rewards  of  a 
finer  comradeship. 

4.  A  Community-Serving  Spirit 

Many  a  country  church  is  dying  from  sheer  selfish- 
ness. The  same  of  course  is  true  in  the  city.  Many 
people  doubtless  think  the  church  exists  for  the  benefit 
of  its  members  only.  If  this  were  true,  the  church 
would  be  simply  a  club.     Selfishness  is  slow  suicide 


190  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

for  an  individual.  It  is  equally  so  for  a  church.  A 
self-serving  spirit  in  a  church  is  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  Jesus  and  it  kills  the  church  life.  It  is  a  bad 
thing  for  a  church  to  have  the  reputation  for  work- 
ing constantly  just  to  keep  its  head  above  water, 
struggling  to  keep  alive,  just  to  go  through  the  mo- 
tions of  religious  activity,  yet  making  no  progress. 
Many  a  church  is  dying  simply  for  lack  of  a  good 
reason  for  being.  Can  you  not  hear  the  voice  of  the 
Master  saying,  "  The  church  that  would  save  its  life 
shall  lose  it ;  but  the  church  that  is  willing  to  lose  its 
life,  for  my  sake,  the  same  shall  save  it "  ? 

Let  the  church  adjust  its  program  to  a  larger  radius. 
Let  it  be  a  community-wide  program.  If  there  are 
other  churches,  it  will  of  course  not  invade  the  homes 
of  families  under  their  care.  But  aside  from  this,  it 
will  plan  its  work  to  reach  out  to  all  neglected  indi- 
viduals as  well  as  to  serve  all  social  and  moral  inter- 
ests of  the  community  as  a  whole.  Let  its  motto  be 
"  We  seek  not  yours  but  you."  The  church  will  not 
be  able  to  save  the  community  until  it  proves  its 
willingness  to  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  the  community. 

5.  A  Broad  Vision  of  Service  and  Program  of  Use- 
fulness 

This  next  factor  making  for  efficiency  is  very 
closely  related  to  the  last.  A  useful  country  church 
will  not  die.  A  church  that  is  really  serving  its  com- 
munity in  vital  ways  will  so  win  the  appreciation  of 
the  people  that  they  will  support  it  because  they  love 
it.     Some  churches  and  ministers  seem  too  proud  to 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  I9I 

include  in  their  program  anything  but  preaching, 
praying,  hymn-singing,  with  an  occasional  funeral, 
wedding  and  baked-bean  supper  to  break  the  mo- 
notony. In  a  social  age  like  this,  with  multiplying 
human  needs,  such  a  church  is  on  the  way  to  death. 
The  church  must  recognize  its  responsibility,  as  its 
Master  recognized  it,  to  meet  all  the  human  needs  of 
its  people.  Many  country  communities  with  meager 
social  equipment,  often  with  manifold  human  needs 
absolutely  unmet,  demand  the  broadest  kind  of 
brotherly  service  on  the  part  of  the  church,  for  their 
mutual  good.  The  church  need  not  do  everything  itself 
as  an  institution.  Its  great  work  will  ever  be  the  work 
of  inspiration.  But  where  there  are  serious  gaps  in 
the  social  structure,  the  church  must  somehow  fill 
the  gaps.     It  must  do  the  work  or  get  it  done. 

It  rejoices  us  to  find  churches  all  along  the  country- 
side to-day  that  have  welcomed  this  great  opportunity 
for  broad  usefulness,  and  have  gained  a  new  vitality 
and  an  increasing  success  by  facing  all  the  needs  of 
the  community  and  broadening  their  vision  and  pro- 
gram of  service  accordingly. 

6.  United  Christian  Forces  in  the  Community 

We  are  confronted  now  by  one  of  the  most  serious 
factors  in  our  problem.  The  pitiable  sub-division  of 
rural  Christendom  into  petty  little  struggling,  compet- 
ing churches  makes  religion  a  laughing-stock  and  a 
failure.  We  are  saddened  by  it.  By  and  by  we  shall 
get  so  ashamed  of  it  that  we  will  stop  it !  Many  men 
of  leadership  and  influence  are  working  on  the  prob- 


192  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

lem  and  we  can  see  improvement  in  many  directions. 

Wasteful  sectarianism  is  a  sin  in  the  city;  but  it  is 
a  crime  in  the  country.  It  is  a  city  luxury  which  may 
be  justified  perhaps  where  there  is  a  wealth  of  people; 
but  it  is  as  out  of  place  among  the  farms  as  sheet 
asphalt  pavements  or  pink  satin  dancing  pumps.  Sec- 
tarianism is  not  religion.  It  is  merely  selfishness  in 
religion.  A  sincere  country  Christian  will  be  willing 
to  sacrifice  his  sectarian  preference,  as  a  city  luxury 
which  the  country  cannot  afford. 

The  great  Puritan  movement  against  conformity  to 
an  established  church  settled  forever  the  great  prin- 
ciple that  any  company  of  earnest  Christians  have  a 
right  to  form  a  church  when  conditions  justify  it. 
But  we  have  seen  in  this  country,  as  nowhere  else  in 
the  world,  the  absurd  extremes  of  this  great  liberty. 
Sects  have  been  formed  to  maintain  the  wickedness 
of  buttons  and  the  piety  of  hooks  and  eyes;  and  for 
many  another  tenet  almost  as  petty.  Churches  of 
"  Come-Outers,"  "Heavenly  Recruits"  and  "The 
Hephzibah  Faith"  appeal  to  the  fancy  of  theological 
epicures.  Colonies  of  "  Zionites "  and  "  The  Holy 
Ghost  and  Us  Society  "  have  been  established,  mainly 
for  the  exploiting  of  some  shrewd  fanatic  and  his 
pious  fraud. 

With  188  sects  now  in  America,  we  have  come  to 
the  point  when  sensible  people  have  a  right  to  insist 
that  an  unnecessary  church  is  a  curse  to  a  community. 
Its  influence  is  sadly  divisive.  Its  maintenance  is  a 
needless  tax.  It  embodies,  not  true  piety,  but  phari- 
saic  selfishness.  The  community  has  a  right  to  keep 
it  out  for  self -protection.    The  social  consciousness 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  I93 

has  now  developed  enough  to  teach  us  that  the  right 
of  individuals  to  form  endless  churches  must  be  cur- 
tailed, for  the  general  welfare,  exactly  as  other  indi- 
vidual rights,  such  as  carrying  pistols,  public  expecto- 
ration, working  young  children,  and  riding  bicycles  on 
city  sidewalks,  have  to  be  surrendered  in  a  social  age. 
Thus  social  cooperation  is  displacing  individualism 
and  religious  cranks  should  not  be  immune  to  the  law 
of  progress.  To  insist  upon  individual  rights  to  form 
a  new  sect  or  to  burden  an  overchurched  community 
with  a  needless  church  is  a  grave  social  injustice  and 
a  sin  against  the  Kingdom  of  God, 

A  small  village  in  South  Dakota  applied  the  refer- 
endum to  the  question  whether  they  should  have  a 
Methodist  or  a  Congregational  church.  The  plan  was 
proposed  by  the  village  Board  of  Trade,  It  was  en- 
tered into  by  the  whole  community  as  a  sensible  propo- 
sition and  the  losers  accepted  the  verdict,  under  pres- 
sure of  public  opinion.  The  village  has  but  one  church 
to-day.  When  denominational  leaders  agree  to  force 
no  church  upon  such  a  community  as  this,  and  to  help 
support  no  church  with  home  missionary  funds  where 
it  is  neither  needed  nor  wanted,  the  cause  of  religion 
in  small  communities  will  be  greatly  advanced.  For- 
tunately some  of  the  larger  churches  are  frankly  ac- 
cepting this  principle  and  are  working  with  a  large 
measure  of  comity  and  denominational  reciprocity. 

The  New  Christian  Statesmanship 

For  many  years  the  leading  churches  in  Maine  have 
had   an   "  Interdenominational   Comity   Commission " 


194  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

which  has  kept  out  unnecessary  churches,  and  has  re- 
duced the  number  in  overchurched  communities  by  a 
sort  of  denominational  reciprocity.  Other  states  in 
New  England  and  the  West  have  adopted  the  plan, 
and  now  the  Home  Mission  G)uncil  has  recently  or- 
ganized on  a  national  scale,  in  the  interest  of  all 
Protestant  churches. 

The  Interdenominational  Commission  of  North 
Dakota  includes  the  Baptist,  Congregational,  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  churches  of  the 
state.  This  simple  statement  of  their  working  agree- 
ment is  an  excellent  one: 

(i)  No  community  in  which  the  concurring  de- 
nominations have  a  claim  should  be  entered  by  any 
other  denomination  through  its  official  agencies  with- 
out conference  with  the  denominations  having  such 
claim. 

(2)  A  feeble  church  should  be  revived  if  possible 
rather  than  a  new  one  established  to  become  its  rival. 

(3)  The  preference  of  a  community  should  always 
be  regarded  in  determining  what  denomination  should 
occupy  the  field. 

Such  a  plan  wins  our  respect.  We  may  have  faith 
that  the  next  few  years  will  see  much  progress  in  re- 
ducing the  disgrace  of  unholy  competition  between 
Christian  churches  that  ought  to  be  working  together. 

May  denominational  reciprocity  soon  relieve  our 
country  communities  of  their  unnecessary  churches 
which  are  simply  a  burdensome  tax  and  a  hindrance. 
Local  churches  often  would  unite  if  the  outside  subsidy 
were  withdrawn  which  prolongs  their  separate  exist- 
ence.    Church  union  is  a  question,  not  of  mechanics. 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN    FORCES  I95 

but  of  biology.  It  is  a  matter  of  life.  It  is  useless  to 
unite  churches  forcibly  which  have  not  been  growing 
together.  They  would  fall  apart  next  week!  But 
they  are  doubly  certain  to  grow  together  if  encouraged 
from  their  denominational  headquarters. 

And  by  and  by,  through  the  new  Christian  states- 
manship of  denominational  reciprocity,  we  shall  have 
a  Baptist  village,  and  a  Methodist  village,  and  a  Con- 
gregational village,  all  contiguous,  and  with  united 
Christian  forces  in  each  community.  It  will  be  a  great 
boon  to  the  Kingdom  of  God, —  and  it  will  not  even 
disturb  the  equilibrium  of  the  denominational  year 
books ! 

Blessed  is  the  rural  community  that  has  but  one 
church.  But  where  there  are  several,  let  them  work 
together  as  closely  as  possible,  presenting  a  united 
front  against  the  forces  of  evil  in  an  aggressive  cam- 
paign for  righteousness.  Local  church  federations,  and 
township  or  county  ministers'  unions  greatly  help  to 
develop  a  spirit  of  unity  and  really  good  results.  A 
local  federation  of  men's  church  brotherhoods,  uniting 
all  the  churchmen  of  a  township,  is  a  splendid  thing. 
It  affects  the  whole  church  and  community  life.  It 
speedily  puts  friendliness  in  the  place  of  suspicion, 
and  enthusiastic  cooperation  in  place  of  jealous  rivalry. 

7.  A  Broad  Christian  Gospel,  in  Place  of  Sectarian 
Preaching 

One  of  the  signs  of  a  decadent  church  is  excessive 
emphasis  upon  sectarian  trifles.  When  adult  Sunday 
school  classes  have  not  studied  the  lesson  for  the  day 


196  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

they  fall  back  on  denominational  hobbies!  A  holy 
zeal  for  righteousness  costs  something.  The  selfish 
zeal  for  one's  sect  is  cheap.  There  is  little  of  this 
now  in  the  cities ;  but  the  country  is  scourged  by  petty 
sectarian  teaching  both  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  Sun- 
day school ;  and  the  country  is  very  tired  of  it 
Ordinary  mortals  are  simply  bored  by  it  and  will  no 
longer  come  to  hear  it. 

People  are  still  hungry  for  the  real  gospel.  The 
great  affirmations  of  religion:  The  priceless  value 
of  human  life,  the  reality  of  God  our  loving  Father, 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  law  of  the  harvest, 
the  gospel  of  a  Saviour,  et  cetera,  still  challenge  the 
attention  and  win  the  hearts  of  men.  Let  us  empha- 
size the  great  Christian  fundamentals  on  which  most 
Christian  people  heartily  agree.  Let  us  add  to  these 
high  teachings  of  universal  Christianity  the  simple 
social  teachings  of  Jesus,  his  every  day  practical 
teachings  for  human  life  in  mutual  relations,  and 
we  shall  have  a  winning  message  for  the  sensible 
minds  and  hearts  of  country  people. 

8.  A   Loyal   Country   Ministry,  Adequately  Trained 
and  Supported 

This  is  one  of  the  ultimate  factors  in  our  problem, 
perhaps  the  most  difficult  of  all.  Leadership  is 
always  of  utmost  importance  in  social  problems.  A 
splendid  leader  often  brings  real  success  out  of  seri- 
ous difficulties.  There  are  hundreds  of  such  splendid 
leaders  in  country  parsonages  to-day,  and  they  deserve 
all  the  high  appreciation  and  cordial  recognition  they 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN    FORCES  I97 

have  won.  But  when  we  consider  our  70,000  rural 
ministers  as  a  body,  we  find  three  things  to  be  true: 
They  are  miserably  paid.  They  are  usually  un- 
trained. Their  pastorates  are  too  short  to  be  really 
successful.  The  churches  are  of  course  more  to  blame 
for  this  condition  than  the  ministers. 

We  must  have  a  permanently  loyal  country  ministry 
for  life.  Making  the  country  ministry  simply  the 
stepping  stone  to  the  city  church  has  been  a  most 
unfortunate  custom  even  up  to  the  present  day.  The 
country  ministry  must  be  recognized  as  a  specialized 
ministry,  fully  as  honorable  as  the  city  ministry,  de- 
manding just  as  fine  and  strong  a  man, —  possibly  even 
more  of  a  man,  for  many  a  minister  has  succeeded  in 
the  city  after  failing  in  the  country.  The  country 
minister  must  somehow  get  a  vision  of  his  great  task 
as  a  community  builder,  like  Johann  Friedrich  Oberlin, 
that  greatest  of  country  pastors.  He  must  find  an 
all-absorbing  life-mission  claiming  all  his  powers  and 
demanding  his  consecration  as  thoroughly  and  enthu- 
siastically as  the  call  to  the  foreign  mission  field.  Then 
let  him  go  into  it  for  life,  determined  to  do  his  part, 
a  whole  man's  part,  in  redeeming  country  life  and  mak- 
ing it,  what  it  normally  is,  the  best  life  in  all  the  world 
to  live.  Staying  year  after  year  in  the  same  parish 
is  the  secret  of  success  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  con- 
spicuously successful  country  pastors.  Only  thus  can 
a  man  really  become  the  parson  of  the  village,  a  person 
of  dominant  influence  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  people. 

This  ideal  suggestion  of  long  country  pastorates 
meets  with  two  objections.  Laymen  are  saying,  "  How 
can  you  expect  us  to  keep  a  minister  after  he  has  said 


198  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

all  he  knows  ?  "  And  some  of  the  ministers  will  say, 
"  How  can  you  expect  us  to  stay,  on  less  than  a  liv- 
ing- wage?"  At  present  both  objections  are  perfectly 
valid.  Too  many  ministers  are  untrained  men,  and 
therefore  fail  to  succeed  for  more  than  a  year  or  two. 
And  certainly  an  underpaid  minister  cannot  be  blamed 
for  taking  his  family  where  he  can  support  them  re- 
spectably. 

As  near  as  can  be  determined,  about  20%  of  rural 
ministers  the  country  over  (including  all  denomina- 
tions) are  educated  men;  though  probably  not  over 
10%  of  them  have  had  a  full  professional  training.' 
They  are  about  as  successful  as  any  other  professional 
man  can  be  who  lacks  his  special  training  for  his 
life  work.  There  is  a  great  demand  for  trained  min- 
isters. The  writer  receives  very  many  more  requests 
from  churches  in  a  year  than  he  can  furnish  with 
men.  Yet  the  theological  seminaries  are  training  few 
men  for  the  rural  churches.  Most  of  the  graduates 
go  either  to  the  cities  or  the  villages,  where  there  is 
a  living  wage.  Dr.  Warren  H.  Wilson  figures  that 
a  country  minister  with  a  wife  and  three  children,  in 
order  to  educate  his  family,  keep  a  team  and  provide 
$100  annual  payment  for  insurance  for  his  old  age, 
must  have  at  least  $1,400  salary.  There  are  minis- 
ters who  are  able  to  do  this  on  less, —  but  not  very 
much  less.  There  certainly  ought  to  be  a  minimum 
wage  of  $800  and  a  parsonage,  or  $1,000  cash,  for 
every  minister.  A  church  paying  less  than  this  is 
simply  stealing  from  the  minister's  family.     Churches 

•  In  several  of  the  stronger  denominations,  and,  in  general,  east 
of   the   Allegheny   Mountains,   the  proportion   is  much  higher. 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  I99 

unable  to  pay  this  minimum  living  wage  ought  to  unite 
with  a  neighboring  church  or  close  their  doors,  except 
for  itinerant  preaching,' 

In  several  denominations  the  plan  of  maintaining 
a  minimum  salary  for  their  ministers  is  being  at- 
tempted. We  have  space  for  a  single  illustration. 
The  East  Ohio  Conference,  Cleveland  District,  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  under  the  direction 
of  Rev.  N.  W.  Stroup,  as  district  superintendent,  has 
succeeded  in  raising  the  minimum  to  $750.  It  was 
estimated  in  advance  that  $2,500  would  have  to  be 
raised  by  the  stronger  churches  in  the  district  to  ac- 
complish this  result;  but  in  the  very  first  year  only 
$1,000  of  this  sum  was  actually  required.  As  soon  as 
the  movement  was  made  public,  many  of  the  weaker 
churches  developed  courage  and  grit  enough  to  raise 
their  own  pastor's  salary  to  a  respectable  figure,  and 
maintained  their  self-respect.  Other  churches  are  ex- 
pected to  do  the  same  next  year. 

At  the  writer's  urgent  suggestion,  in  a  public  address 
last  fall,  a  Michigan  church,  paying  its  minister  only 
$350  a  year,  raised  the  salary  to  $800  and  secured  a 
bright  young  college  graduate  as  pastor.  They  now 
report  that  it  is  just  as  easy  to  finance  the  church  on 
the  present  self-respecting  basis  as  it  was  to  run  a 
cheap  church  last  year! 

•  Yet  an  earnest  young  college  student  in  an  Indiana  college  asked 
my  advice  recently  on  this  significant  personal  problem.  He  is  anx- 
ious to  consecrate  his  life  to  the  ministry  of  the  country  church,  but 
his  particular  sect  does  not  believe  it  right  to  pay  salaries  to  their 
ministers;  so  he  asked  advice  as  to  whether  he  should  earn  his  living 
by  farming  or  school  teaching, —  while  givtng  his  services  as  pastor  and 
preacher!  Quite  possibly  in  such  a  church  a  salary  of  $1000  might 
actually  handicap  a  pastor's  influence;  but  mainly  with  the  conserva- 
tive older   people. 


200  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

9.  A  Liberal  Financial  Policy 

This  reminds  us  very  forcibly  that  one  factor  es- 
sential to  country  church  success  is  a  liberal  financial 
policy.  In  the  smaller  country  churches  we  seldom 
find  any  business  policy,  and  no  plan  at  all  for  the 
future.  The  most  common  method  is  the  annual  sub- 
scription paper,  with  special  subscriptions  for  repairs 
or  emergencies.  The  motive  is  apparently  strict  econ- 
omy rather  than  efficiency.  It  never  pays  to  run  a 
cheap  church,  for  it  cheapens  the  whole  enterprise. 
More  and  more  the  weekly-payment  pledge  system  is 
coming  into  use  and  with  it  a  careful  planning  of  the 
budget  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  guided  by  an  earn- 
est purpose  to  keep  the  church  business-like,  the  min- 
ister promptly  paid,  the  property  well  in  repair  and  the 
enterprise  spiritually  successful.  Often  the  new  con- 
secration of  the  pocket-book  has  been  the  first  symptom 
of  a  thorough-going  revival. 

10.  Adequate  Equipment 

A  large  proportion  of  country  churches  are  simply 
one-room  buildings.  This  explains  many  failures.  In 
order  to  serve  the  community  at  all  adequately,  the 
church  must  have  social  rooms  for  a  variety  of  neigh- 
borhood purposes,  and  it  must  make  provision  for 
its  Sunday  school.  About  four-fifths  of  the  boys  and 
girls  in  the  Sunday  schools  of  America  live  in  the 
rural  districts.  They  should  be  given  good  rooms. 
Without  an  effective  building  for  social  and  educa- 
tional purposes, —  a  parish  house  or  at  least  a  vestry, 
—  the  country  church  is  seriously  handicapped.     With 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  201 

a  good  equipment  the  church  often  becomes  the  so- 
cial center  for  the  whole  neighborhood. 

II.  A    Masculine    Lay    Leadership    Developed    and 
Trained 

It  takes  more  than  a  minister  to  make  a  church  suc- 
cessful. The  King's  Business  requires  MEN.  Women 
are  usually  active  and  loyal.  The  men  are  often  just 
as  loyal  but  less  active  because  of  lack  of  opportun- 
ity. The  most  enthusiastic  meetings  the  writer  has 
attended  for  months  were  in  a  rural  county  in  Michi- 
gan, a  county  without  a  trolley.  The  meetings  were 
held  for  three  days  under  the  auspices  of  the  Men  and 
Religion  Forward  Movement  and  all  the  forty-five 
Protestant  churches  of  the  county  were  represented 
by  ministers  and  laymen.  The  laymen  outnumbered 
the  ministers  about  ten  to  one  and  they  showed  the 
keenest  interest  in  the  proposition  to  make  the  work 
of  religion  in  their  county  a  man's  job. 

Those  men  caught  the  vision  of  service,  and  every 
month  during  the  winter,  meetings  led  by  laymen  were 
held  in  every  school  house  of  that  county,  carrying 
the  five- fold  message  of  the  great  Men  and  Religion 
Movement  into  every  rural  neighborhood;  the  mes- 
sages of  personal  evangelism,  of  definite  Bible  study, 
of  world-wide  missions,  of  social  service  to  better  their 
community,  and  constructive  personal  work  to  save 
their  boys.  This  is  a  program  of  religious  work  for 
MEN.  Only  men  can  do  it ;  but  men  can  do  it,  with 
a  little  training  and  wise  leadership.  The  results  no 
man  can  foretell.    But  it  must  result  in  great  blessing 


202  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

for  the  men  and  for  their  communities,  and  new  effi- 
ciency and  appreciation  for  their  country  churches. 

12.  A  Community  Survey  to  Discover  Resources  and 
Community  Needs 

Without  multiplying  further  these  factors  which 
make  for  efficiency,  we  mention  but  one  more.  Until 
recently  country  churches  have  been  conducted  on  the 
principle  that  "  human  nature  is  the  same  everywhere," 
and  "  one  country  village  is  like  all  the  rest."  But 
scientific  agriculture  has  suggested  to  us  that  we  should 
make  a  scientific  approach  to  our  church  problem  as 
well  as  to  our  soil  problem.  Gauntry  communities 
are  not  all  alike, —  far  from  it.  Social,  economic, 
moral,  educational,  political,  personal  conditions  vary 
greatly  in  different  localities.  Churches  miss  their  aim 
unless  they  study  minutely  these  conditions.  There 
is  in  progress  now  a  religious  survey  of  the  entire  state 
of  Ohio.  Quite  a  number  of  counties  in  Pennsylvania, 
New  York,  Missouri,  Indiana  and  elsewhere  have  been 
carefully  studied  for  religious  purposes.  Valuable  re- 
ports of  these  studies  are  available  as  guides  for  sim- 
ilar work  elsewhere.  The  best  of  this  work  has  been 
done  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions 
under  Dr.  W.  H.  Wilson's  direction. 

The  general  purpose  of  the  survey  hardly  needs  to 
be  defended.  It  is  simply  the  application  to  the  work 
of  the  church  of  the  modern  social  method  of  finding 
the  facts  in  order  to  prevent  wasted  effort,  in  order 
to  utilize  all  available  resources  and  minister  to  all 
real  human  needs.  It  augurs  well  for  the  church  of 
the  future. 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN   FORCES  2O3 

We  have  every  reason  to  hope  that  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  great  Country  Life  Movement  the  Country 
Church  is  coming  to  a  new  day  of  usefulness;  with 
people  living  under  modern  conditions,  with  local 
prosperity  and  progressive  farming,  with  their  com- 
munities well  socialized  and  cooperating,  with  a  com- 
munity-serving spirit  in  the  church,  guided  by  a  broad 
vision  of  service  and  program  of  usefulness;  with 
united  Christian  forces  and  decreasing  sectarianism; 
with  a  loyal  country  ministry  adequately  trained,  and 
sustained  by  a  liberal  financial  policy ;  with  an  adequate 
equipment  making  the  church  a  social  center;  with 
an  enthusiastic  masculine  lay  leadership  developed 
and  guided  by  a  community  survey  to  undertake  the 
work  which  will  best  serve  the  needs  of  their  people, 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  will  surely  come.  It  sounds 
like  the  millennium!  Perhaps  it  will  be,  when  it 
comes!  But  in  many  respects  we  can  see  it  coming, 
as,  one  after  another,  these  factors  come  to  stay.  May 
God  speed  the  day  of  the  broadly  efficient  country 
church.     It  will  mean  the  redemption  of  the  country. 

IV.     Some  Worthy  Allies  of  the  Country  Church. 
The  Country  Sunday  school 

Foremost  among  the  allies  of  the  country  church  is 
the  Sunday  school.  There  are  few  churches  that  lack 
this  most  important  auxiliary,  and  there  are  tens  of 
thousands  of  independent  schools  for  Bible  study  lo- 
cated in  the  open  country  where  there  are  no 
churches  or  preachers  at  all.  Often  the  Sunday 
school,  being  non-sectarian,  unites  all  the  people  of 


204  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

the  community,  and  is  an  institution  of  large  influ- 
ence. 

Three-fourths  of  the  total  Sunday  schools  of  the 
country  are  in  the  rural  sections  (villages  under  2,500 
population).  They  are  much  more  representative  of 
the  population  than  are  the  city  schools.  They  are 
usually  really  community  institutions.  Men  of  local 
influence  preside  as  superintendents  and  many  adults 
attend  as  regularly  as  the  children.  While  the  preach- 
ers come  and  go,  and  are  usually  non-residents  any- 
way, Sunday  school  officers  and  teachers  remain  in 
the  community  as  the  permanent  religious  leaders. 
Thus  the  Sunday  school  is  dignified  as  not  merely  a 
child's  institution  but  one  that  includes  men  and  women 
of  all  ages  and  ministers  to  the  deepest  needs  of  all. 

The  Sunday  school  in  the  country  is  far  more  im- 
portant relatively  than  it  is  in  the  town.  In  fact  the 
country  people  in  many  places  think  more  of  their 
Sunday  school  than  they  do  of  the  church.  The  Sun- 
day school  meets  every  Sunday  of  the  year.  It  is  a 
layman's  institution.  But  church  services  are  held 
only  when  they  can  get  a  preacher;  which  does  not 
average  oftener  than  every  other  Sunday.  On  the 
average  Sunday  throughout  the  year,  in  two  denomi- 
nations only  in  the  South,  there  are  17,000  churches 
without  preaching  services.  But  their  Sunday  schools 
are  doubtless  in  session  regularly.  Sometimes  the 
Bible  school  superintendent  does  not  attend  the  preach- 
ing service  even  when  there  is  one.  His  Sunday 
school  is  his  church. 

A  careful  religious  survey  of  three  typical  counties 
in  Indiana  by  field  investigators  of  the  Presbyterian 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN  FORCES  205 

church  revealed  the  fact  that  the  Sunday  school 
is  far  from  being  a  child's  institution,  there  being 
nearly  as  many  members  over  21  as  under  14.  The  to- 
tal enrollment  was  found  to  be  divided  into  almost 
equal  thirds,  children  under  14,  adults  over  21,  and 
youth  between  those  ages.  There  were  more  men  in 
the  Sunday  schools  than  in  the  churches.  40%  of 
the  church  membership  were  males ;  while  of  the  Sun- 
day school  membership  over  14,  45%  were  males. 
Two-fifths  of  the  teachers  in  these  country  Sunday 
schools  were  discovered  to  be  men, —  a  much  larger 
proportion  than  in  the  cities. 

Country  Sunday-school  Teaching 

With  a  vast  opportunity,  the  country  Sunday  school 
really  succeeds  only  moderately.  There  is  great  room 
for  improvement  in  its  methods.  Occasionally  you 
will  find  a  country  school  conducted  on  as  modern 
lines  as  the  best  in  the  city ;  but  usually  they  are  fully 
as  defective  as  the  local  public  schools,  and  for  similar 
reasons.  The  state  Sunday  school  associations  are 
making  real  progress  in  standardizing  the  schools,  in- 
troducing semi-graded  lessons  and  something  of  the 
modern  system.  But  the  teachers  are  usually  un- 
trained, though  well-meaning,  and  teach  mostly  by 
rote.  Stereotyped  question  and  printed  answer  are 
consistently  recited  by  the  younger  classes,  without 
stirring  more  than  surface  interest.  The  older  classes 
often  make  the  lesson  merely  a  point  of  departure  and 
soon  take  to  the  well-worn  fields  of  theological  dis- 
cussion on  trite  themes  of  personal  hobbies.    Or  if 


206  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

the  teacher  happens  to  be  fluent  and  the  class  more 
patient  than  talkative,  he  makes  the  teaching  purely 
homiletic,  and,  like  the  apostles  of  old,  "  takes  a  text 
and  then  goes  everywhere  preaching  the  gospel ! " 

About  90%  of  churches  in  the  open  country  have 
only  one  room.  This  means  utter  lack  of  adequate 
Sunday  school  equipment,  and  often  ten  to  twenty 
classes  jostling  elbows  in  the  same  room.  There  is 
seldom  intentional  disorder,  but  the  noise  is  often  very 
distracting,  as  all  the  teachers  indulge  in  loud  talking 
simultaneously  in  order  to  be  heard. 

The  country  Sunday  school  surely  has  a  great  fu- 
ture. It  has  the  field  and  the  loyalty  of  its  people. 
It  is  gradually  being  rescued  from  the  monotony  of 
fruitless  routine.  The  teaching  is  becoming  less  a 
matter  of  parrot-like  reciting  and  weak  moralizing  and 
more  a  matter  of  definite  instruction.  The  teachers 
are  here  and  there  being  trained  for  their  task,  not 
only  in  a  better  knowledge  of  the  Bible  but  of  boy 
life  and  girlhood  at  different  stages.  Definite  courses 
of  study  are  more  and  more  introduced,  planned  to 
run  through  a  series  of  years,  culminating  in  a  gradua- 
tion at  about  the  age  of  seventeen,  with  annual  ex- 
aminations for  promotion;  making  due  allowance  for 
graduate  classes  and  teacher  training  groups.  So 
thorough  is  the  work,  in  some  places  practically  the 
entire  population  of  a  rural  community  is  connected 
with  the  Sunday  school. 

Bible  Study  in  the  Country 

It  is  an  unfortunate  fact  that  most  Sunday  school 
quarterlies  and  lesson  studies  are  produced  in  the  city ; 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN  FORCES  207 

yet  the  Bible  itself  is  a  book  of  rural  life,  with  the 
exception  of  some  of  the  writings  of  Paul.  No  won- 
der country  folks  appreciate  it.  As  Dr.  Franklin  Mc- 
Elfresh  well  says,  "  The  Bible  sprang  from  the  agonies 
of  a  shepherd's  soul,  from  the  triumph  of  a  herds- 
man's faith,  and  the  glory  of  a  fisherman's  love.  Its 
religion  keeps  close  to  the  ground,  and  interprets  the 
daily  life  of  sincere  men  who  live  near  to  nature.  One 
of  the  great  days  in  the  history  of  religion  and  liberty 
is  on  record  when  a  vine-dresser  named  Amos  stood 
up  before  the  king  of  Israel  to  speak  the  burden  of 
his  soul,  '  Prophet,'  said  he ;'  I  am  no  prophet,  only 
a  plain  farmer,  but  I  came  by  God's  call  to  tell  you 
the  truth.'  This  was  the  day-dawn  of  Hebrew  proph- 
ecy. 

"The  Bible  can  best  be  interpreted  in  the  country. 
It  sprang  from  a  pastoral  people.  It  is  full  of  the  fig- 
ures of  the  soil  and  the  flock  and  the  field.  Its  richest 
images  are  from  the  plain  face  of  nature  and  the 
homely  life  of  humble  cottages."  Country  Sunday 
schools  need  a  lesson  literature  which  can  interpret  to 
them  the  wonderful  messages  of  the  Book  of  books 
in  terms  of  rural  life;  but  meanwhile  they  are  doing 
their  best  to  discover  these  messages  of  life  them- 
selves. 

The  Rural  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 

A  most  valuable  ally  of  the  country  church,  in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  is  the  Rural  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association,  or  the  County  Work,  as  it  is  usu- 
ally called,   because  it  is   organized  on  the  county 


208  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

basis.  It  is  serving  the  interests  of  the  young  men 
and  boys  of  the  village  and  open  country  in  a  most 
effective  way.  It  is  successfully  supplementing  the 
work  of  the  country  churches  where  they  are  making 
their  worst  failures,  and  it  is  often  uniting  rival 
churches  in  a  common  cause,  to  save  the  boys ;  which 
results  in  a  new  sympathy  and  an  ultimately  united 
religious  community. 

It  is  developing  young  manhood  in  body,  mind  and 
spirit,  furnishing  wholesome  social  activities  and  rec- 
reation, conducting  clean  athletics,  encouraging  clean 
sport  and  pure  fun,  stimulating  true  ambition  and  in- 
telligent, constructive  life  plans  for  the  discontented 
farm  boy,  cleaning  him  up  morally  and  opening  his 
eyes  to  see  new  religious  ideals. 

Through  well-directed  groups  for  Bible  study  and 
through  quiet  personal  work,  the  country  boys  are 
led  to  the  discovery  that  religion  is  "  a  man's  job " 
and  that  it  is  essential  to  a  well-rounded  life;  and 
they  come  to  a  frank  and  normal  religious  experience 
which  profoundly  changes  their  outlook  on  life  and 
gives  them  a  new  life  efficiency. 

This  Association  work  is  no  experiment.  For  years 
it  has  been  widely  successful  in  many  states  and  is 
promoted  by  the  State  and  International  Committees 
on  scientifically  sound  principles,  based  on  a  close 
study  of  rural  sociology  and  tried  out  by  years  of  pa- 
tient endeavor  by  well-trained  men  who  are  special- 
ists in  their  field.  It  is  one  of  the  most  promising 
just  now  of  all  the  various  lines  of  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  work;  and  it  is  certainly  as  much 
needed  as  any  branch  of  their  work  in  the  cities. 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN  FORCES  209 

Working  Principles 

The  County  Work  aims  to  save  the  country  boy 
and  develop  him  for  Christian  citizenship,  not  by 
the  use  of  costly  equipment,  but  by  personality, 
trained,  consecrated  leadership;  not  by  institutions 
but  by  friendship;  not  by  highly-paid  local  secreta- 
ries, but  by  enlisting-  and  training  volunteer  service; 
not  by  patronage  and  coddling  but  by  arousing  and 
directing  the  boy's  own  active  interests;  always  re- 
membering that  by  the  grace  of  God  the  redemptive 
forces  in  each  community  must  be  the  resident  forces. 

It  is  good  policy  to  make  the  county  the  geo- 
graphical unit  of  this  effective  work.  The  county  is 
the  social  unit  politically,  industrially,  commercially; 
it  should  also  be  the  unit  of  religious  endeavor,  par- 
ticularly in  rural  sections.  A  county-wide  campaign 
for  righteousness  under  the  direction  of  a  trained 
Association  Secretary,  usually  a  college  trained  man 
and  an  expert  in  rural  life,  is  a  ^reat  thing  for  any 
county.  Every  rural  county  in  the  land  ought  to  be 
organized  speedily  to  get  the  benefit  of  this  business- 
like modern  plan  of  Christian  service.  The  difficulty 
is  to  discover,  enlist  and  train  the  necessary  leaders. 

A  Campaign  of  Rural  Leadership 

It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  any  organization  working 
for  the  betterment  of  rural  life  which  has  a  better 
chance  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  whole  countryside 
to-day  than  the  Rural  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation. It  represents  a  united  Christendom,  being  rep- 
resentative of  all  the  churches  and  their  right  arm  in 


210  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

social  service.  In  a  county  where  there  may  be 
twenty-nine  varieties  of  churches,  few  of  them  strong 
enough  for  any  aggressive  work,  and  most  of  them 
mutually  jealous  and  suspicious,  the  Rural  Associa- 
tion Secretary  comes  in  as  a  neutral,  is  soon  welcome 
in  churches  of  every  name  and  gradually  gains  great 
influence.  He  is  possibly  a  better  trained  man  than 
most  pastors  in  the  county,  and  as  he  quietly  develops 
his  work  they  discover  that  he  is  a  man  who  knows 
rural  life,  keeps  abreast  of  the  best  agricultural  sci- 
ence, is  an  expert  in  rural  sociology  and  in  the  psy- 
chology of  adolescence.  He  rapidly  gathers  the  facts 
about  the  history  and  the  present  needs  of  the  differ- 
ent townships  in  the  county  and  constructs  a  policy  for 
developing  a  finer  local  life,  not  only  among  the  boys 
but  the  entire  community. 

If  he  stays  long  enough  in  the  place,  and  is  a  man 
of  the  right  sort,  he  speedily  grows  into  a  position 
of  recognized  leadership,  gaining  the  confidence  of 
the  working  farmers  as  a  man  of  good  sense,  and  of 
the  professional  men  because  he  understands  scien- 
tifically the  underlying  needs  of  the  locality.  Quite 
likely  he  is  able  to  bring  the  ministers  together  in  a 
county  ministerial  union  of  which  he  is  apt  to  be 
made  secretary  or  executive;  and  in  some  places  he 
is  able  to  federate  most  of  the  churches  of  many  sects 
into  a  working  federation  for  the  religious  and  moral 
welfare  of  the  county.  Because  he  is  a  neutral,  not 
working  for  the  aggrandizement  of  any  special 
church,  though  vitally  interested  in  all  and  conse- 
crated to  the  larger  interests  of  the  whole  Kingdom 
of  God,  this  man  has  the  best  possible  leverage  on 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN  FORCES  2H 

the  country  church  situation.  He  can  advise  weak 
churches  about  their  difficulties;  and  when  two  or 
more  local  churches  ought  to  be  gradually  united,  he 
can  often  tactfully  and  successfully  bring  them  to- 
gether, as  no  other  individual  or  group  of  individuals 
could  possibly  do.  He  can  with  the  grace  of  God 
develop  the  spirit  of  cooperation  among  the  people 
without  which  any  hasty  or  mechanical  plan  for 
union  of  diverse  churches  would  be  but  a  temporary 
experiment. 

Under  the  direction  of  his  County  Committee, 
which  includes  some  fifteen  to  twenty  of  the  most  in- 
fluential Christian  men  of  the  county,  this  Associa- 
tion Secretary  is  often  able  to  set  scores  of  local  lead- 
ers at  work  and  train  them  for  the  special  service  to 
which  they  are  best  adapted ;  thus  utilizing  local  lead- 
ership which  has  been  largely  going  to  waste  through 
modest  self-depreciation. 

Gradually  the  office  of  the  rural  secretary  becomes 
a  sort  of  clearing  house  for  all  the  popular  interests 
and  organizations  in  the  county, —  churches,  schools, 
granges,  farmers'  institutes,  boards  of  trade,  medical 
societies,  Sunday  schools,  boys'  clubs  of  every  sort, 
athletic  clubs,  civic  associations  and  village  improve- 
ment societies.  Thus  these  various  agencies  are 
brought  together  for  cooperative  service  of  the  coun- 
tryside, learning  to  work  together  harmoniously  with 
modem  methods  of  efficiency.* 


*  For  an  authoritative  statement  of  the  County  Work  program  and 
principles  written  by  International  Secretaries  Roberts  and  Israel, 
see  "  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Acad,  of  Polit.  and  Soc.  Sci."  for  March, 
1913,  pp.    140-S. 


212  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

The  County  Work  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association 

So  successful  has  been  the  work  of  the  Rural  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  it  has  encouraged  the 
National  Board  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation to  begin  Christian  work  among  women  and 
girls  in  the  country  villages.  There  is  unquestionably 
a  wide  field  and  a  great  usefulness  for  this 
branch  of  the  Young  Women's  Association  work. 
It  ought  to  be  rapidly  promoted  and  doubtless  will  be 
as  fast  as  consecrated  young  women  can  be  trained  for 
it  and  their  challenge  met  by  people  of  wealth  to  con- 
secrate their  money  for  this  purpose.  Efficiency  would 
be  gained  by  working  in  practical  union  with  the  rural 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

The  Primacy  of  the  Church  in  the  Country 

In  all  these  activities  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  Young  Men's  and  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Associations  are  but  auxiliaries  of  the  church. 
The  secretary  is  frankly  a  servant  of  the 
church,  of  all  the  churches.  The  main  reason  for 
emphasizing  these  agencies  for  rural  redemption  is 
the  present  divided  condition  of  religious  forces  in 
the  country.  Where  the  churches  are  well  united 
and  cooperative;  or  better,  where  the  community 
has  but  one  church,  a  strong,  influential  organi- 
zation, there  is  no  valid  reason  why  the  church 
itself  may  not  rightly  assume  the  position  of  leader- 
ship in  all  matters  of  community  welfare.  Commun- 
ity building  is  the  great  work  of  the  church  after  all ; 
developing  and  strengthening  the  vital  issues  of  life 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES      -  2I3 

in  order  that  the  community  may  become  an  efficient 
part  of  the  great  Kingdom  of  God.  As  rural  Chris- 
tendom becomes  better  united  and  better  socialized, 
the  church  will  come  to  its  own  again,  as  in  the  old 
days  when  it  was  the  only  outstanding  institution 
in  the  community  and  rightly  assumed  the  effective 
leadership  in  all  matters  vitally  affecting  the  welfare 
of  the  people. 

Here  again,  the  problem  is  mainly  one  of  person- 
ality. Given  adequate  leadership,  the  church  can  ac- 
complish wonders  as  a  genuine  community  builder. 
But  a  gun  must  be  a  hundred  times  heavier  than  the 
projectile  it  fires;  else  it  will  burst  the  gun.  Small, 
petty  personalities  cannot  hope  for  large  results  in 
real  community  leadership.  The  church  needs  mas- 
terful men,  men  of  power  and  vision,  ministers  thor- 
oughly trained  for  the  work  of  their  profession  and 
men  whose  hearts  are  kept  tender  and  humble  by  the 
spirit  of  the  indwelling  God. 

V.    Types  of  Rural  Church  Success. 

Some  Real  Community  Builders 

With  so  many  faithful  men  in  country  parsonages 
to-day  who  have  seen  the  vision  of  broader  service 
and  permanent  success,  it  would  be  invidious  to  sug- 
gest a  list  of  names.  It  will  be  fully  as  safe  to  sug- 
gest something  of  their  program.  These  prophets 
of  the  new  day  for  the  rural  church  are  doing  two 
distinct  types  of  work.  Some  are  making  the  village 
church  the  center  of  outreaching  endeavor  for  the 
redemption  of  the  surrounding  country;  others  are 


214  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COtJNTRY 

vitalizing  the  church  in  the  open  country  as  a  center 
of  vital  religion  and  broad  service. 

In  Cazenovia,  New  York,  for  instance,  we  find  a 
splendid  instance  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  village 
church  in  overcoming  its  handicap  with  the  people 
outside  the  village.  In  most  places  there  is  a  two- 
mile  dead-line  for  religion.  Outside  that  limit  the 
church's  influence  is  seldom  felt.  But  here  we  find  a 
pastor  who  has  by  friendly  evangelism  in  school 
houses  miles  from  his  church,  supported  by  social 
methods  for  enriching  the  daily  life  of  the  people,  won 
scores  of  people  to  his  Lord  and  Master,  and  greatly 
enlarged  his  church  membership  and  its  usefulness. 
There  are  many  places  where  similar  success  is  won 
by  the  same  kind  of  earnest,  efficient  work  by  pastors 
and  their  laymen.  Unquestionably  the  village  church 
has  a  regal  opportunity,  as  great  as  ever  in  the  past. 

The  Church  in  the  Open  Country 

There  are  many  people,  however,  who  doubt  the 
possible  success  of  the  church  in  the  open  country. 
Some  are  advising  concentrating  efforts  in  the  vil- 
lages and  centralizing  church  work  there  on  the  plan 
of  the  centralization  of  the  public  schools.  In  some 
places  this  may  be  wise;  but  to  deny  that  a  church 
in  the  open  country  can  be  successful  is  to  fly  in  the 
face  of  the  facts. 

Given  an  adequate  equipment  for  service,  and  a 
well-trained,  tactful  pastor  who  knows  and  loves 
country  folks  and  lives  with  his  people,  splendid  re- 
sults may  be  expected.  A  church  on  the  open  prairie 
at  Plainfield,  Illinois,  six  miles  from  a  railroad,  has 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN    FORCES  21$ 

become  famous  in  recent  years  as  an  illustration  of 
real  success  in  community  building.  City  people 
would  say  there  is  no  community,  for  there  is  none 
in  sight.  But  the  people  for  miles  around  are  bound 
vitally  to  that  church  as  to  their  home,  for  it  not  only 
has  served  their  many  needs  and  won  their  personal 
appreciation  and  love,  but  it  has  set  many  of  theni 
at  work  in  a  worth-while  cooperative  service. 

Ten  years  ago  that  community  had  an  unsuccess- 
ful church  of  the  old  type,  gathering  a  small  con- 
gregation from  week  to  week  but  with  little  influence 
outside.  No  one  had  joined  the  church  for  five  years. 
The  last  minister  had  resigned  in  discouragement, 
with  six  months'  arrears  in  salary.  The  "  New  Era 
Qub,"  a  mile  away,  was  wooing  all  the  young  people 
away  from  the  church  to  its  frequent  dancing  par- 
ties; while  the  church  offered  no  substitute,  and  help- 
lessly grew  weaker  year  by  year. 

But  in  the  past  ten  years  a  fine  modern  church 
building  has  been  built,  with  fourteen  rooms  for  all 
purposes,  and  paid  for  in  cash ;  the  manse  has  been 
remodeled;  the  pastor's  salary  nearly  doubled;  about 
as  much  given  to  benevolences  as  in  the  half-century 
preceding ;  the  Sunday  school  has  grown  to  300  mem- 
bers ;  the  people  from  miles  away  flock  to  the  preach- 
ing services,  the  lectures,  concerts  and  socials;  large 
numbers  have  been  added  to  the  church;  while  the 
"  New  Era  Club  "  has  been  crumbling  into  ruin,  sim- 
ply starved  out  by  religious  competition!  There  has 
not  been  a  dance  there  for  eight  or  nine  years,  though 
the  pastor  has  never  preached  against  it. 

This  all  began  with  an  old-fashioned  singing  school 


2l6  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

which  gathered  together  the  young  people  socially  at 
the  church;  and  from  this  simple  beginning,  other 
plans  developed  which  met  the  needs  of  the  people 
and  won  their  loyalty.  Though  the  pastor  modestly 
disclaims  special  merit  or  ability,  the  man  who  can- 
not only  keep  his  preaching  services  at  a  high  stand- 
ard of  success  and  keep  up  a  system  of  cottage  prayer 
meetings  throughout  his  parish  as  centers  of  the  spir- 
itual life,  and  also  gather  over  2,000  people  for  the 
annual  community  plowing  contest  (more  than  double 
the  population  of  the  whole  township)  must  be  a 
personality  to  be  reckoned  with!  There  is,  however, 
nothing  in  the  situation  or  in  the  program  of  success- 
ful achievement  which  could  not  be  duplicated  else- 
where in  thousands  of  purely  rural  communities, 
given  the  same  kind  of  intelligent  leadership  and  con- 
secrated cooperation. 

Oberlin:  The  Prince  of  Country  Ministers 

With  all  the  resources  of  our  modern  church  life,  it 
is  doubtful  if  there  has  ever  been  a  country  pastor 
more  strikingly  efficient  or  broadly  influential  than 
Johann  Friedrich  Oberlin,  who  died  nearly  a  century 
ago.  He  was  pastor  of  four  rural  parishes  in  the 
Vosges  Mountains  for  over  sixty  years  and  became  the 
most  beloved  and  influential  person  in  the  entire  sec- 
tion. He  was  a  graduate  of  Strassburg  University 
and  declined  a  city  pulpit  in  order  to  accept  the  most 
needy  and  difficult  field  of  service  which  he  could 
find.  The  people  of  Ban-de-la-Roche  to  whom  he 
came  were  a  rude  mountain  folk  isolated  from  civil- 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  217 

ization;  but  since  Oberlin's  work  of  transformation 
they  have  been  a  prosperous,  happy  people  with  many 
of  the  marks  of  culture. 

Seven  years  before  his  death,  Pastor  Oberlin  re- 
ceived the  gold  medal  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  from 
the  King  of  France,  "  for  services  which  he  has  ren- 
dered in  his  pastorate  during  fifty-three  years,  em- 
ploying constant  efforts  for  the  amelioration  of  the 
people,  for  zeal  in  the  establishment  of  schools  and 
their  methods  of  instruction,  and  the  many  branches 
of  industry  and  the  advancement  of  agriculture  and 
the  improvement  of  roads,  which  have  made  that  dis- 
trict flourishing  and  happy."  The  National  Agricul- 
tural Society  gave  him  a  gold  medal  for  "  prodigies 
accomplished  in  silence  in  this  almost  unknown  corner 
of  the  Vosges,  ...  in  a  district  before  his  ar- 
rival almost  savage,"  and  into  which  he  had  brought 
"  the  best  methods  of  agriculture  and  the  purest  lights 
of  civilization." 

In  the  early  stages  of  his  remarkable  career  his 
narrow-minded  people  opposed  every  step  he  took  in 
the  direction  of  community  progress.  They  resented 
his  doing  anything  but  preaching.  When  he  proposed 
that  they  build  a  passable  road  over  the  mountains  to 
civilization  they  jeered  at  the  idea.  But  he  shoul- 
dered his  pick  and  began  the  task,  and  ere  long  they 
joined  him.  Together  they  built  the  first  real  high- 
way and  bridged  the  mountain  stream.  Out  of  a  sal- 
ary of  $200  a  year  he  paid  most  of  the  expense  of 
two  new  schoolhouses,  because  the  people  refused 
to  help.  The  other  villages,  however,  saw  the  im- 
provement and  built  their  own.    He  g^^adually  revo- 


2l8  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

lutionized  the  educational  methods,  and  even  in  the 
course  of  years,  succeeded  in  supplanting  the  moun- 
tain dialect  with  Parisian  French.  He  studied  and 
then  taught  agriculture,  and  horticulture,  introducing 
new  crops,  new  vegetables  (including  the  potato),  and 
new  fruits;  even  reclaiming  the  impoverished  soil  by 
scientific  methods  which  gradually  won  the  respect  of 
even  the  dullest  of  his  people. 

In  all  his  reforms  he  kept  his  religious  aim  and 
purpose  foremost  and  his  church  never  suffered  but 
constantly  grew  in  influence  and  popular  appreciation. 
Gradually  he  became  the  honored  pastor,  the  "  Prot- 
estant saint,"  of  the  whole  mountainside.  Luther- 
ans, Catholics  and  Calvinists  attended  his  services. 
They  would  even  partake  of  the  sacrament  together 
and  he  furnished  them  with  three  kinds  of  bread,  to 
suit  their  diverse  customs,  wafers  for  the  Romanists 
and  bread  leavened  for  the  Calvinists  and  unleavened 
for  the  Lutherans;  and  thus  they  lived  together  in 
peace ! 

The  Force  of  Oherlin's  Example 

Few  modem  ministers  perhaps  will  need  to  follow 
in  detail  the  example  of  Johann  Friedrich  Oberlin, 
but  the  sacrificial  spirit  and  working  principles  of  his 
life  ministry  are  as  necessary  as  ever.  As  President 
K.  L.  Butterfield  states  so  well,  "  Rural  parishes  in 
America  that  present  the  woeful  conditions  of  the 
Ban-de-la-Roche  in  1767  may  not  be  common,  though 
of  that  let  us  not  be  too  sure.  The  same  under- 
ground work  that  Oberlin  did  may  not  need  doing 


RURAL   CHRISTIAN   FORCES  2ig 

by  every  rural  clergyman.  Schools  are  busy  in  every 
parish.  Forces  of  socialization  and  cooperation  are 
at  work.  The  means  of  agricultural  training  are  at 
hand.  Yet  the  underlying  philosophy  of  Oberlin's 
life  work  must  be  the  fundamental  principle  of  the 
great  country  parish  work  of  the  future.  Oberlin 
believed  in  the  unity  of  life,  the  marriage  of  labor 
and  learning.  He  knew  that  social  justice,  intelligent 
toil,  happy  environment  are  bound  up  with  the  growth 
of  the  spirit.  They  act  and  react  upon  one  another. 
More  than  a  century  ago  this  great  man  labored 
for  a  lifetime  as  a  country  minister.  He  knew  all 
the  souls  in  his  charge  to  their  core.  He  loved  them 
passionately.  He  refused  to  leave  them  for  greater 
reward  and  easier  work.  He  studied  their  problems. 
He  toiled  for  his  people  incessantly.  He  transformed 
their  industry  and  he  regenerated  their  lives.  He 
built  a  new  and  permanent  rural  civilization  that  en- 
dures to  this  day  unspoiled.  The  parishes  about  the 
little  village  of  Waldersbach  thus  became  a  laboratory 
in  which  the  call  of  the  country  parish  met  a  deep 
answer  of  success  and  peace." " 


Test  Questions  on  Chapter  VII 

I. — How  important  do  you  consider  the  country 
church  as  an  agency  for  rural  betterment? 

2. — How  important  might  it  become  if  it  lived  up  to 
its  opportunity? 

•  "  The  Country   Church  and   the   Rural   Problem,"  p.    146. 


220  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

3. — What  four  stages  do  you  find  in  the  development 
of  the  rural  church  in  America  ?    Describe  this 
evolution. 
4. — Contrast  the  old  and  the  new  ideals  in  country 

church  work. 
5. — What  is  the  main  business  of  a  church  in  the 
country  community  and  what  do  you  regard  as 
the  real  test  of  its  efficiency  ? 
6. — Describe  what  you  think  is  the  broad  function  of 

the  church  in  serving  the  rural  community. 
7. — If  the  church  meets  its  opportunity  in  this  broad 

way  what  will  it  gain  by  it? 
8. — What  do  you  think  about  the  church's  responsi- 
bility for  spiritual  leadership? 
9. — Take  some  country  church  of  your  own  acquaint- 
ance and  tell  what  you  think  it  ought  to  be 
doing  to  build  up  its  community. 
10. — Name  the  chief  reasons  why  many  rural  churches 

are  so  weak  and  ineffective. 
II. — Make  a  list  of  factors  which  would  help  to  make 

these  churches  successful. 
12. — If  local  prosperity  is  at  low  ebb  or  the  farmers 
are  unsuccessful,  what  can  the  church  people 
do  about  it?     Illustrate  what  has  been  done. 
13. — Why  should  the  church  not  merely  serve  its  own 

membership  but  the  whole  community? 
14. — Why   is   sectarian   competition   particularly   bad 

for  the  country  sections? 
15. — How  can  a  country  village  get  rid  of  its  surplus 

churches  ? 
16. — What  can  a  church  federation  accomplish  in  a 
community?    In  a  county?    In  a  state? 


RURAL  CHRISTIAN  FORCES  221 

17. — Why  is  a  permanent  resident  pastor  so  necessary 
to  country  church  success?  What  must  be 
done  to  make  this  to  any  extent  possible? 

18. — What  should  be  the  "minimum  wage"  for  a  coun- 
try pastor  and  how  can  this  be  secured  ?  Illus- 
trate how  this  has  been  accomplished  near 
Cleveland. 

19. — Should  denominational  home  mission  boards  help 
pay  the  salary  of  their  ministers  in  over- 
churched  communities?  What  can  be  done 
about  this? 

20. — Draw  a  rough  practical  plan  of  a  modern  church 
building  costing  not  over  $10,000,  and  suited 
to  rural  needs. 

21. — Suggest  a  practical  plan  of  work  for  laymen  in 
the  country  church. 

22. — Discuss  the  religious  usefulness  of  a  community 
social  survey.  What  local  facts  would  you  try 
to  gather? 

23. — What  do  you  think  of  the  opportunity  and  im- 
portance of  Sunday  school  work  in  the  coun- 
try? 

24. — Why  is  the  Bible  particularly  well  adapted  to  peo- 
ple living  in  the  country  ? 

25. — Why  are  rural  Sunday  schools  often  so  unsuc- 
cessful ? 

26. — Discuss  possible  improvements  and  suggest  how 
you  would  accomplish  them. 

27. — What  do  you  think  of  the  general  plan  of  the 
Rural  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
work? 

28. — Tell  how  it  is  helping  the  country  boy. 


222  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

29. — Discuss  the  working  principles  of  this  "  County 

Work." 
30. — Describe  the  broad  opportunities  for  community 

Christian  service  which  come  to  the  County 

Work  secretary. 
31. — What  Christian  work  in  country  villages  needs  to 

be  done  by  the  Young  Women's  Christian  As- 
sociation ? 
32. — Why  do  you  find  so  often  to-day  a  "  two-mile 

dead  line  for  religion  "  .'* 
33. — What  work  in  the  surrounding  country  can  be 

in  a  prairie  church  at  Plainfield,  Illinois. 
34. — Do  you  believe  in  the  permanent  usefulness  of 

the  church  in  the  open  country? 
35. — ^Tell  the  story  of  modern  country  church  success 

in  a  prairie  church  at  Plainfield,  Illinois. 
36. — What  were  the  secrets  of  the  success  of  that  par- 
ticular church  in  the  open  country?    Is  there 

any  reason  why   10,000  other  rural  churches 

cannot  learn  to  do  the  same  ? 
37. — Who  was  Johann  Friedrich  Oberlin? 
38. — Discuss  his  remarkable  life  work  as  a  country 

pastor.     What  do  you  think  of  his  rural  church 

program  ? 
39. — Make  a  list  of  the  successful  couniry  churches 

and  ministers  you  have  known  and  the  chief 

reasons  for  their  success. 
40. — Describe  the  ideal  country  church  of  the  future. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
COUNTRY  LIFE  LEADERSHIP 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Country  Life  Leadership 
A.     A  Challenge  to  College  Men 

I.     The  Relation  of  the  Colleges  to  This  Problem 
A  new  interest  and  sense  of  responsibility. 
General  college  neglect  of  the  rural  call. 
The  stake  of  the  city  in  rural  welfare. 
Rural  progress  waiting  for  trained  leadership. 

11.    Rural  Opportunities  for  Community  Bmlders 

The  call  for  country  educators. 
The  call  of  the  country  church : 

Large  tasks  awaiting  real  leadership. 

The  modern  type  of  country  minister. 
The  call  for  Christian  physicians : 

The  special  need  of  country  doctors. 

The  unique  rewards  of  country  practice. 
The  rural  call  to  the  legal  profession. 
Life  opportunities  in  agricultural  professions. 
The  call  of  the  County  Work  secretary. 

B.    A  Challenge  to  College  Women 

I.  Some  Responsibilities  Shared  with  Men 

A  necessary  partnership,   and  its  increasing  burden. 
Responsibility  for  rural  education. 
Responsibility  for  rural  health  and  sanitation. 
Opportunities    for    religious    leadership. 

II.  Unique  Opportunities  for  Rural  Social  Service 

The  opportunity  of  the  village  librarian. 
The  specialist  in  household  economics. 
Demonstration  centers  of  rural  culture. 
Womanly  leadership  in  church  and  club. 
The  rural  Association  secretary. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
COUNTRY  LIFE  LEADERSHIP 

A.      A   CHALLENGE  TO   COLLEGE   MEN 

I.     The  Relation  of  the  Colleges  to  This  Problem. 

A  Nezv  Interest  and  Sense  of  Responsibility 

It  has  been  plain  from  the  start  that  this  book  is  a 
book  with  a  purpose.  Its  object  was  frankly  stated  in 
the  preface  and  the  author  at  least  has  not  forgotten 
it  in  a  single  chapter.  These  seven  preceding  chap- 
ters have  condensed  the  facts  of  country  life  in  its 
strength  and  weakness  and  have  voiced  the  modern 
call  for  rural  leadership.  Every  call  for  trained  lead- 
ership must  come  ultimately  to  the  college  man.  Both 
the  need  and  the  worthiness  of  rural  life,  its  social 
and  religious  crisis  and  its  strategic  signs  of  promise, 
bring  the  challenge  of  the  country  to  the  man  in  col- 
lege. 

For  two  or  three  years  past  there  have  been  groups 
of  men  in  various  universities  meeting  weekly  to  dis- 
cuss this  problem.  In  comparing  the  needs  of  various 
fields  of  service  and  weighing  their  own  fitness 
for  various  tasks,  they  wished  to  study  the  opportuni- 
ties in  rural  life  for  consecrated  leadership.  These 
groups  are  certain  to  multiply.  Alert  college  men 
even  in  city  colleges  have  discovered  that  we  have  to- 
day not  only  a  complicated  country  problem  but  a 

225 


226  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

great  rural  life  opportunity;  a  problem  intricate 
enough  to  challenge  earnest  investigation  by  thought- 
ful students,  and  an  opportunity  for  a  life  mission 
worthy  of  strong  men. 

General  College  Neglect  of  the  Rural  Call 

The  writer  firmly  believes  that  the  city  has  been 
claiming  too  large  a  proportion  of  college  graduates 
in  recent  years  and  that  the  needs  of  country  life 
are  not  receiving  due  consideration.  A  large  ma- 
jority of  students  in  most  colleges  come  from  the 
country.  Has  not  the  country  a  right  to  claim 
its  fair  share  of  these  young  men  and  women 
after  they  have  been  trained  for  a  useful  life?  If 
only  15%  of  the  students  at  Princeton  come  from 
the  country  we  cannot  complain  if  practically  all 
of  them  after  graduation  go  to  the  city;  but  when 
nearly  all  the  students  at  Marietta  College  (Ohio) 
come  from  the  country  and  65%  of  them  go  to  the 
city,  we  wonder  why.  Likewise  70%  of  the  students 
at  Stanford  University  (Calif.)  were  country  bred, 
but  only  25%  return  to  country  life  after  college 
days.  At  Williams  (Mass.),  a  city  boys'  college,  only 
24%  come  from  the  country  and  about  15%  return; 
but  at  Pacific  University  (Ore.)  95%  come  from  the 
country  (80%  from  very  small  communities)  yet  only 
45%  resist  the  city's  call.  Bowdoin  (Maine)  gets  but 
47%  of  its  students  from  the  city,  but  returns  70% ; 
The  University  of  Kansas  receives  but  44%  of  its 
students  from  cities,  yet  contributes  to  cities  three- 
fourths  of  its  graduates;  while  Whitman  (Wn.)  re- 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  227 

Ceives  but  40%  from  the  city  yet  returns  80%. 
Hillsdale  (Mich.),  a  country  college  with  a  fine  spirit 
of  service,  does  better;  receiving  95%  of  its  students 
from  small  towns  and  villages,  it  returns  all  but  26%. 
"  Practically  all "  the  students  at  Adelbert  College 
(Ohio)  enter  city  work  on  graduation,  though  30% 
of  them  are  country  bred. 

It  is  entirely  natural  in  institutions  like  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois,  Ohio  State  University  and  Cornell, 
where  there  are  strong  agricultural  colleges,  that  there 
should  be  the  keenest  interest  in  the  welfare  and  needs 
of  country  life;  but  is  it  not  time  that  other  institu- 
tions faced  more  frankly  the  responsibility  of  training 
more  of  their  students  for  country  life  leadership? 
Certainly,  with  the  splendid  signs  of  promise  in  coun- 
try life  to-day  and  the  opportunities  for  a  life  mis- 
sion there,  no  thoughtful  man  can  refuse  to  con- 
sider it. 

The  Stake  of  the  City  in  Rural  Welfare 

It  was  quite  natural  that  the  rapidly  growing  city 
should  attract  a  large  proportion  of  college  men  pre- 
paring for  business  and  professional  life  and  various 
kinds  of  religious  and  social  service.  Not  only  have 
larger  opportunities  for  earning  money  usually  been 
found  there,  but  the  city  has  certainly  needed  the  men. 
The  call  of  the  city  in  its  dire  need  of  Christian  ideal- 
ism and  consecrated  leadership  has  been  as  urgent 
and  definite  a  call  to  service  as  ever  a  crusader  heard. 
Dr.  Strong's  eloquent  appeal  to  earnest  young  people 
in  his  "  Challenge  of  the  City  "  is  by  no  means  ex- 
travagant.    His  facts  are  facts  and  his  logic  is  pon- 


228  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

vincing.  He  is  quite  right  in  saying,  "  We  must  save 
the  city  in  order  to  save  the  nation.  We  must  Chris- 
tianize the  city  or  see  our  civilization  paganized." 
But  even  if  "  in  a  generation  the  city  will  dominate 
the  nation,"  where  are  the  men  who  will  then  dominate 
the  city?  Most  of  them  are  now  in  the  country  towns 
and  villages  getting  ready  for  their  task,  developing 
physical,  mental  and  moral  power  in  the  pure  atmos- 
phere and  sunlight  of  a  normal  life.  To  work  on  the 
city  problem  is  a  great  life  chance;  but  to  train  rural 
leadership  is  to  help  solve  the  city  problem  at  its 
source. 

Thus,  the  bigger  and  more  urgent  the  city  problem 
becomes,  the  more  necessary  it  will  be  to  solve  the 
rural  problem,  for  the  city  must  continue  to  draw 
much  of  its  best  blood  and  its  best  leadership  from 
the  country.  Professor  M.  T,  Scudder  explains  in  a 
sentence  why  this  is  a  continuing  fact :  "  The  fully 
developed  rural  mind,  the  product  of  its  environ- 
ment, is  more  original,  more  versatile,  more  accurate, 
more  philosophical,  more  practical,  more  persevering 
than  the  urban  mind;  it  is  a  larger,  freer  mind  and 
dominates  tremendously.  It  is  because  of  this  type 
of  farm-bred  mind  that  our  leaders  have  largely  come 
from  rural  life."  ^  City  leaders,  of  course,  ought  to  be 
trained  in  the  city,  and  they  usually  are,  even  though 
bom  and  bred  in  the  country. 

Rural  Progress  Waiting  for  Trained  Leadership 

Leadership  is  the  ultimate  factor  in  every  life  prob- 
lem.    No  movement  can  rise  above  the  level  of  its 

* "  The   Annals   of   the   Am.    Acad,    of    Pol.    and   Soc.    Sci.,"   March, 
191a,  p.   177. 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  229 

leadership.  In  many  fields  to-day,  progress  is  lagging 
because  of  inadequate  leadership.  This  is  acutely  true 
in  all  phases  of  rural  life.  Rural  progress  is  halting 
for  the  lack  of  trained  leadership.  The  colleges  must 
be  held  responsible  for  furnishing  it. 

The  agricultural  colleges  are  rising  magnificently  to 
their  opportunity  and  are  striving  to  keep  pace  with 
the  demands  made  upon  them  for  technically-trained 
rural  leaders.  But  though  some  of  them  double  their 
enrolment  every  three  or  four  years  they  cannot  sup- 
ply graduates  fast  enough  for  the  various  agricultural 
professions,  quite  aside  from  other  kinds  of  country 
life  leaders. 

All  schools  of  higher  education  must  share  the  task 
of  training  and  furnishing  rural  leadership.  The 
broadening  of  country  life,  and  its  rising  standards, 
puts  increasing  demands  upon  its  untrained  leaders 
which  they  are  unable  to  meet.  Rural  institutions 
can  no  longer  serve  their  communities  effectively  un- 
der the  leadership  of  men  lacking  in  the  very  essentials 
of  leadership.  Many  country  communities  are  de- 
manding now  as  high-grade  personality  and  training 
in  their  leaders  as  the  cities  demand,  and  they  refuse 
to  respond  to  crude  or  untrained  leadership.  Well- 
trained  doctors,  ministers,  teachers,  et  cetera,  have  a 
great  chance  to-day  in  the  country,  because  their 
training  finds  unique  appreciation  for  its  very  rarity 
and  efficiency ;  while  every  profession  is  foolishly  over- 
crowded in  all  cities. 

As  soon  as  adequate  leadership,  well  trained  and  de- 
veloped, is  furnished  our  country  communities,  they 
will  develop  a  rural  efficiency  which  will  make  the  rural 


230  THE   CHALLENGE   OF   THE   COUNTRY 

problem  largely  a  thing  of  the  past.  But  until  then, 
progress  halts.  Leadership  is  costly.  Trained,  effi- 
cient personality,  ready  for  expert  service  is  rare  and 
beyond  price.  The  colleges  are  lavishly  sending  it  to 
the  cities.  The  country  deserves  its  share  and 
patiently  presents  its  claims. 

II.  Rural  Opportunities  for  Community  Builders. 
The  Call  for  Country  Educators 

There  is  little  need  of  emphasizing  to  college  stu- 
dents the  opportunities  of  the  teaching  profession. 
Since  1900  teaching  has  claimed  more  graduates  than 
any  other  life  work.  Taking  27  representative  col- 
leges as  typical,  more  than  one-fourth  of  all  college 
graduates  become  teachers,  the  percentage  having 
doubled  since  1875.  Of  the  class  of  191 1  in  Oberlin 
College  (both  men  and  women),  60%  have  been 
teaching  during  their  first  year  out ;  j^hile  of  the  men 
in  the  ten  classes  1896-1905,  27%  are  still  engaged 
in  teaching,  presumably  as  their  permanent  work. 

Unfortunately  the  smaller  salaries  paid  rural  teach- 
ers has  made  the  country  school  seem  unattractive, 
and  when  accepted  by  young  collegians  by  necessity 
rather  than  choice,  it  has  been  regarded  often  merely 
as  an  apprenticeship  for  buying  experience,  a  step- 
ping-stone to  a  city  position.  Country  salaries  of 
course  must  be  increased,  and  they  certainly  will  be, 
with  the  new  development  of  rural  life  and  the 
steady  improvement  in  schools ;  especially  with  in- 
creased state  aid  which  is  more  and  more  generously 
given. 


COUNTRY  LIFE   LEADERSHIP  23 1 

With  a  living  wage  already  possible  in  centralized 
schools,  and  the  great  personal  rewards  which  far 
transcend  the  material  benefits,  the  life  of  the  coun- 
try teacher  is  one  of  true  privilege  and  deep  satisfac- 
tion. College  men  should  regard  it  as  a  genuine 
calling  and  discover  whether  its  call  is  for  them.  If 
a  man  has  no  real  love  for  country  life,  let  him  not 
blight  the  country  school  by  his  subtle  urbanizing  in- 
fluence. Most  rural  discontent  is  caused  by  such  as 
he.  But  if  his  heart  is  open  to  the  sky  and  the  woods 
and  the  miracles  of  the  soil;  if  he  loves  sincerity  in 
human  nature  and  appreciates  the  sturdy  qualities  and 
vast  possibilities  for  development  in  country  boys  and 
girls,  he  will  revel  in  the  breadth  and  freedom  and 
boundless  outreach  of  his  work.  __- 

If  he  is  a  man  of  vision  and  of  power,  the  country 
school  principal  has  greater  local  influence  and  social 
standing  than  he  would  have  in  the  city.  He  has  th« 
finest  chance  to  make  his  personality  count  in  the 
great  Country  Life  Movement,  sharing  his  visions  of 
a  richer,  redirected  rural  life  not  only  with  his  pupils 
but  every  citizen  and  gradually  leavening  the  whole 
community  with  a  new  ambition  for  progress.  The 
responsibility  for  training  the  local  leaders  of  the  fu- 
ture devolves  upon  the  teacher.  It  is  he  who  can 
best  teach  a  wholesome  love  for  country  life  and 
help  to  stem  the  townward  tide.  He  can  organize 
around  the  school  the  main  interests  of  his  boys  and 
girls  and  develop  the  impulse  for  cooperation  which  in 
time  will  displace  the  old  competitive  individualism 
and  make  social  life  congenial  and  satisfying. 
Through   organized   play,   inter-community   athletics, 


232  THE   CHALLENGE   OF   THE   COUNTRY 

community  festivals,  old-home  week,  lyceums  or  debat- 
ing clubs  in  the  winter,  with  occasional  neighborhood 
entertainments  utilizing  home  talent,  contests  in  cook- 
ing and  various  other  phases  of  home  economics,  in 
corn-raising  and  other  agricultural  interests, —  the 
possibilities  are  endless  for  making  the  school  the  vital 
social  center  of  the  rural  community.  It  will  all  take 
time  and  energy  and  ingenuity.  It  will  cost  vitality, 
as  all  life-sharing  does.  But  though  it  costs,  the 
sharing  of  life  is  the  greatest  joy,  and  it  is  the  teach- 
er's privilege  in  large  measure.  It  is  the  measure  of 
his  true  success  as  well  as  his  happiness.  Investing 
one's  life  in  a  group  of  boys  will  yield  far  greater  re- 
sults in  the  country  than  in  the  city  where  their  lives 
are  already  so  full  they  would  little  appreciate  it. 

Professor  H.  W.  Foght  says  three  things  are  now 
required  of  the  teacher  of  a  rural  school,  "(i)  he 
must  be  strong  enough  to  establish  himself  as  a  leader 
in  the  community  where  he  lives  and  labors ;  (2)  he 
must  have  a  good  grasp  on  the  organization  and  man- 
agement of  the  new  kind  of  farm  school ;  and  (3)  he 
must  show  expert  ability  in  dealing  with  the  redi- 
rected school  curriculum."  ^  In  short,  if  he  lives  up 
to  his  opportunity  as  a  rural  leader,  he  will  train  his 
boys  and  girls  distinctly  for  rural  life,  giving  them 
not  only  the  rudiments  of  agricultural  training,  but 
an  enthusiasm  for  farming  from  the  scientific  side  as 
the  most  complex  of  all  professions;  utilizing  the 
vast  resources  the  country  affords  for  teaching  ob- 
jectively, not  merely  through  books,  and  thus  bridge 
the  gap  between  the  school  and  life. 

•  "  Country   Life,"   p,    155. 


COUNTRY  LIFE   LEADERSHIP  233 

The  Call  of  the  Country  Church 

The  modem  college  man  is  not  attracted  to  the 
ministry  of  the  country  churches  which  are  conducted 
along  old  lines.  If  that  ministry  is  to  consist  merely 
in  preaching  once  or  twice  a  week  to  half  a 
hundred  people,  conducting  a  mid-week  service  for 
one-fifth  of  that  number  and  doing  the  marrying 
and  the  burying  and  the  parish  calling  for  a  fraction 
of  a  rural  community  divided  among  three  struggling 
churches,  then  the  college  man  refuses  to  be  inter- 
ested. Consequently  we  find  most  of  such  churches 
are  manned  by  untrained  men.  They  usually  receive 
the  wages  of  an  unskilled  laborer.  Trained  minis- 
ters usually  receive  a  living  wage.  The  college  man 
demands  at  least  a  man's  job;  a  chance  to  invest  his 
life  where  his  whole  personaHty  will  count  and  where 
his  energy  and  perseverance  will  be  allowed  to  work 
out  his  problems  to  a  successful  issue. 

Let  us  grant  at  the  start  that  churches  which  have 
no  real  field,  in  a  community  that  is  over-churched, 
need  not  expect  to  get  our  college  men  for  pastors. 
If  they  have  only  a  fraction  of  a  field,  let  them  have 
half  a  man.  Likewise  the  church  which  is  too  selfish 
to  offer  the  minimum  living  wage  in  return  for  faith- 
ful service  must  not  expect  a  self-respecting,  educated 
minister  to  serve  it  and  at  starvation  rates.  Even 
a  martyr  has  no  license  to  starve  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren to  gain  his  starry  crown.  The  church  which 
gives  no  liberty  to  its  pastor,  but  treats  him  like  a 
hired  man,  and  dictates  his  professional  policy  and 
perhaps  even  his  pulpit  messages,  will  of  course  not 


234  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

hold,  if  it  ever  should  gain,  a  man  of  ability  and  in- 
itiative. And,  lastly,  the  church  which  lacks  the 
modern  spirit,  is  hopelessly  behind  the  times  in  its 
dogmatic  teaching,  rails  at  modern  science  as  un- 
godly, and  denies  the  social  gospel  of  Jesus  and  the 
prophets,  such  a  church  will  neither  deserve  nor  de- 
sire the  services  of  a  college-trained  man.  His  rev- 
erence for  truth  as  well  as  loyalty  to  his  own  ideals 
would  forbid  his  serving  them. 

Large  Tasks  Awaiting  Real  Leadership 

While  there  are  some  small  men  with  little  training 
serving  churches  under  the  above  conditions,  there 
are  also  thousands  of  other  churches  striving  to  do 
God's  will  in  the  service  of  men,  many  of  them  with 
earnest,  able  pastors.  These  men  usually  win  the  re- 
spect and  confidence  of  their  community  and  are  given 
great  opportunity  as  community  builders  when  their 
leadership  proves  equal  to  the  task.  As  the  new 
rural  civilization  has  developed,  the  title  Country  Min- 
ister has  become  once  more  a  title  of  honor,  just  as 
the  term  Country  Gentleman  has  again  come  to  its 
own.  In  the  readjustment  of  country  life  to  the  new 
agriculture  and  the  new  social  ideals  of  cooperation, 
a  new  and  brighter  day  has  dawned  for  the  country 
church.  It  is  a  day  of  new  prosperity  and  of  widen- 
ing service. 

This  means  a  new  opportunity  for  the  right  sort 
of  a  country  minister  sufficient  to  claim  the  life 
service  of  strong  men.  In  fact,  the  task  of  readjust- 
ment is  too  difficult  for  any  but  strong  men.     Broken- 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  235 

down  ministers,  or  men  who  have  failed  in  the  city, 
must  not  look  to  the  country  parsonage  to-day  as  a 
refuge  from  toil  or  a  temporary  harbor  for  repairs. 
The  insistent  needs  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the 
country  to-day  demand  strong,  efficient  men,  specific- 
ally trained  for  country  service  and  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  country  folks  and  their  life  needs. 
We  must  have  a  permanently  loyal  country  ministry 
for  life,  men  who  plan  to  devote  their  lives  to  rural 
redemption. 

The  Modern  Type  of  Country  Minister 

College  men  of  earnest  spirit,  who  have  determined 
to  consecrate  their  lives  to  any  life  mission  to  which 
they  believe  God  has  called  them,  must  listen  to  the 
call  of  the  country  [church.  The  very  difficulty  of  the 
task  will  challenge  their  interest  and  their  courage. 
Would  they  know  exactly  the  type  of  leadership  the 
country  church  to-day  requires?  Let  them  study 
word  by  word  this  splendid  description  by  Dr.  But- 
terfield,  unequalled  in  its  clear  analysis : 

"  The  country  church  wants  men  of  vision,  who  see 
through  the  incidental,  the  small  and  the  transient, 
to  the  fundamental,  the  large,  the  abiding  issues  that 
the  countr}'man  must  face  and  conquer. 

"  She  wants  practical  men  who  seek  the  mountain 
top  by  the  obscure  and  steep  paths  of  daily  toil  and 
real  living,  men  who  can  bring  things  to  pass,  secure 
tangible  results. 

"  She  wants  original  men,  who  can  enter  a  human 
field,  poorly  tilled,  much  grown  to  brush,  some  of  it 


236  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

of  diminished  fertility,  and  by  new  methods  can  again 
secure  a  harvest  that  will  gladden  the  heart  of  the 
Great  Husbandman. 

"  She  wants  aggressive  men,  who  do  not  hesitate 
to  break  with  tradition,  who  fear  God  more  than 
prejudice,  who  regard  institutions  as  but  a  means  to 
an  end,  who  grow  frequent  crops  of  new  ideas  and 
dare  to  winnow  them  with  the  flails  of  practical  trial. 

"  She  wants  trained  men  who  come  to  their  work 
with  knowledge  and  with  power,  who  have  thought 
long  and  deeply  upon  the  problems  of  rural  life,  who 
have  hammered  out  a  plan  for  an  active  campaign 
for  the  rural  church. 

"  She  wants  men  with  enthusiasm,  whose  energy 
can  withstand  the  frosts  of  sloth,  of  habit,  of  petti- 
ness, of  envy,  of  back-biting,  and  whose  spirit  is  not 
quenched  by  the  waters  of  adversity,  of  unrealized 
hopes,  of  tottering  schemes. 

"  She  wants  persistent  men,  who  will  stand  by  their 
task  amid  the  mysterious  calls  from  undiscovered 
lands,  the  siren  voices  of  ambition  and  ease,  the  with- 
ering storms  of  winters  of  discontent. 

"  She  wants  constructive  men,  who  can  transmute 
visions  into  wood  and  stone,  dreams  into  live  insti- 
tutions, hopes  into  fruitage. 

"  She  wants  heroic  men,  men  who  possess  a  *  tart 
cathartic  virtue,'  men  who  love  adventure  and  diffi- 
culty, men  who  can  work  alone  with  God  and  suffer 
no  sense  of  loneliness. 

"The  critical  need  just  now  is  for  a  few  strong 
men  of  large  power  to  get  hold  of  this  country  church 
question  in  a  virile  way.    It  is  the  time  for  leader- 


COUNTRY  LIFE  LEADERSHIP  237 

ship.  We  need  a  score  of  Oberlins  to  point  the  way 
by  actually  working  out  the  problem  on  the  field. 
We  need  a  few  men  to  achieve  great  results  in  the 
rural  parish,  to  reestablish  the  leadership  of  the 
church.  No  organization  can  do  it.  No  layman  can 
do  it.  No  educational  institution  can  do  it.  A 
preacher  must  do  it, —  do  it  in  spite  of  small  salary, 
isolation,  conservatism,  restricted  field,  overchurch- 
ing,  or  any  other  devil  that  shows  its  face.  The  call 
is  imperative.     Shall  we  be  denied  the  men  ?  "  ' 

Student  Recruits  for  the  Home  Ministry 

The  Student  Volunteer  Bands  in  most  of  our  col- 
leges unite  in  a  stimulating  comradeship  the  young 
men  and  women  who  have  pledged  their  lives  to  for- 
eign missionary  service.  It  is  well  worth  while  for 
our  college  men  who  have  heard  this  call  of  the  coun- 
try church  for  this  specialized  service  of  Christ  and 
humanity  to  organize  local  groups  of  Student  Re- 
cruits for  the  Home  Ministry,  as  has  been  done  in 
various  centers  on  the  Pacific  coast  and  at  Oberlin 
College,  Grinnell  and  elsewhere,  under  various  names. 
At  Oberlin  this  strong  body  of  choice  young  men,  in 
the  college  of  arts  and  sciences,  meets  regularly 
through  the  year  with  a  vitally  helpful  program  which 
stimulates  their  intelligent  interest  in  and  loyalty  to 
the  ministry  as  the  greatest  of  all  professions.  At 
the  close  of  the  year  the  members  of  this  Theta  Club, 
as  it  is  called,  are  tendered  a  banquet  by  the  students 
of   Oberlin   Theological   Seminary,    with   a   message 

•"The  Country  Church  and  the  Rural  Problem,"  p.   131. 


238  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

from  some  successful  pastor.     It  is  counted  one  of 
the  most  significant  events  of  the  college  year. 

The  Call  for  Christian  Physicians 

There  have  been  many  followers  of  the  Good  Phy- 
sician who  have  never  been  ordained  except  by  the 
grace  of  God,  whose  consecrated  devotion  to  the 
needs  of  sick  humanity  has  been  a  genuine  ministry. 
Often  the  Christian  physician  is  the  best  friend  of 
the  family.  Certainly  he  has  countless  opportunities 
to  serve  more  than  the  bodily  needs  of  men ;  and  no 
man  in  the  community  is  rendering  more  sacrificial 
service.  He  is  ever  at  the  call  of  human  need,  day 
or  night.  He  heeds  the  call  of  the  poorest  as  quickly 
as  the  wealthiest,  and  does  from  5%  to  30%  of  his 
work  without  remuneration.  He  is  one  of  the  most 
necessary  factors  in  every  community;  yet  for  many 
rural  communities  the  nearest  up-to-date  physician  is 
many  miles  away. 

In  these  days  of  specialists,  "general  practice"  is 
relatively  less  attractive.  There  is  some  danger  also 
that  the  fine  idealism  which  has  long  characterized 
this  splendid  profession  may  yield  to  the  growing 
commercialism  which  to-day  threatens  all  professions 
like  a  canker.  When  surgeons  operate  for  dollars  in- 
stead of  for  a  cure;  and  physicians  make  the  art  of 
healing  strictly  business  instead  of  scientific  kindness, 
it  will  be  a  sad  day  for  humanity. 

The  work  of  the  physician  is  not  properly  a  busi- 
ness ;  it  should  be  classed  as  social  service  of  the  high- 
est order.     In  spite  of  the  higher  standards  of  medi- 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  239 

cal  schools  recently*  with  an  emphasis  on  a  general 
college  preparation,  fewer  college  men  are  going  into 
medicine.  The  percentage  has  steadily  decreased 
since  1850,  and  in  the  past  twelve  years  there  has  been 
a  sharp  decline.  The  proportion  at  Harvard  College 
has  declined  one-half  in  thirty  years,  though  mean- 
while Harvard  Medical  School  has  become  a  strictly 
graduate  department. 

It  is  evident  that  luxury-loving  collegians  are  avoid- 
ing the  medical  profession  to-day  just  as  they  are 
dodging  the  ministry.  If  they  have  capital  of  their 
own,  business  offers  them  a  larger  income  and  makes 
little  demand  upon  their  sympathies  in  personal  serv- 
ice. Selfish  men  avoid  the  costs  of  life-sharing  which 
a  life  in  close  personal  associations  compels,  as  is  true 
of  teaching,  the  ministry  and  the  medical  profession. 
But  this  is  no  handicap  but  greater  opportunity,  for 
men  of  real  earnestness. 

The  Special  Need  of  Country  Doctors 

The  profession  is  seriously  overcrowded  in  the 
cities,  but  people  in  the  rural  districts  are  literally 
dying  for  trained  physicians.  Some  medical  faculties 
are  advising  their  graduates  not  to  stay  in  the  city 
but  to  settle  in  country  villages  where  they  are  most 
needed,  and  where  quite  possibly  they  would  find 
greatest  success.  "  There  are  many  tov^ois  in  this 
state,"  writes  a  medical  professor,  "  with  only  500  to 
1,000  people,  where  a  young  physician  could  do  well 
and  where  he  is  needed." 

*  Forty-six  out  of  i66  medical  colleges  have  been  closed  in  yery 
recent  years  and  the  entrance  requirements  of  many  others  raised,  with 
a   strong   tendency   to   nuke    a   college   course   prerequisite. 


240  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

Although,  according  to  the  best  data  obtainable, 
most  medical  graduates  settle  in  cities, —  the  propor- 
tion at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  New 
York,  being  as  high  as  90%, —  there  is  a  rapidly  in- 
creasing demand  for  them  in  the  suburban  and  rural 
sections  in  the  East  because  of  the  strong  city-to- 
country  movement.  The  secretary  of  the  Harvard 
Medical  faculty  notes  this :  "  With  the  advent  of  au- 
tomobiles and  the  desire  of  people  to  live  in  the 
country,  serious  problems  in  medicine  are  frequently 
presented  to  the  country  practitioners." 

The  need  of  educated  physicians  in  country  com- 
munities is  well  stated  by  Dr.  Means  of  the  Ohio 
Medical  School :  "  The  condition  of  medical  practice 
in  many  of  our  country  communities  is  deplorable. 
I  can  recall  any  number  of  places  where  there  are 
two,  three,  four  and  five  physicians  and  not  one  of 
them  has  had  any  post-graduate  work  from  date  of 
graduation,  and  none  of  them  known  to  attend  medi- 
cal societies.  Their  professional  work  is  on  a  par,  no 
better,  no  worse,  than  that  of  their  ancestors.  I  al- 
ways feel  that  such  communities  sorely  need  an  up- 
to-date  physician  who  has  been  educated  along  the 
lines  of  modern  sanitation  and  general  medicine. 
The  demand  for  a  medical  education  has  grown  to 
such  proportions  in  the  last  ten  years  that  graduates, 
after  having  spent  so  much  time  and  money,  do  not 
care  to  go  into  country  practice.  The  five  years  or 
more  that  they  spend  in  city  environments  while  com- 
pleting their  medical  education  almost  unfits  them  for 
country  life.  The  result  is  that  our  cities  are  filling 
up  with  young  physicians  who  can  scarcely  make  a 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  24! 

living.  These  are  men  of  character  and  prdficiency 
who  would  give  tone  to  any  country  community  and 
supply  a  public  want." 

The  Unique  Rewards  of  Country  Practice 

There  are,  to  be  sure,  certain  serious  disadvantages 
under  which  the  country  physician  labors,  such  as 
distance  from  hospitals  and  nurses;  but  these  are 
overbalanced  by  the  manifest  need  and  greater  op- 
portunity. The  situation  is  acute.  For  earnest  col- 
lege men,  willing  to  invest  their  lives  in  rural  leader- 
ship, this  constitutes  a  real  call  to  a  life  of  service 
which  may  be  God's  own  call  to  them.  No  one  who 
has  ever  read  Ian  Maclaren's  story  of  Dr.  MacLure, 
"  A  Doctor  of  the  Old  School,"  can  fail  to  appreciate 
the  peculiar  devotion  of  country  people  to  their 
trusted  physician  "  who  for  nearly  half  a  century  had 
been  their  help  in  sickness,  and  had  beaten  back  death 
time  after  time  from  their  door." 

After  the  funeral  of  the  good  old  doctor  who  had 
so  long  sacrificed  his  comfort  for  the  people  of  Drum- 
tochty.  Lord  Kilspindie  from  Muirtown  Castle  voiced 
at  the  grave  this  tribute  to  the  faithful  physician  of 
country  folk :  "  Friends  of  Drumtochty,  it  would 
not  be  right  that  we  should  part  in  silence  and  no 
man  say  what  is  in  every  heart.  We  have  buried 
the  remains  of  one  that  served  this  Glen  with  a  de- 
votion that  has  known  no  reserve,  and  a  kindliness 
that  never  failed,  for  more  than  forty  years.  I  have 
seen  many  brave  men  in  my  day,  but  no  man  in  the 
trenches  of  Sebastopol  carried  himself  more  knightly 


242  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

than  William  MacLure.  You  will  never  have  heard 
from  his  lips  what  I  may  tell  you  to-day,  that  my 
father  secured  for  him  a  valuable  post  in  his  younger 
days;  but  he  preferred  to  work  among  his  own  peo- 
ple. I  wished  to  do  many  things  for  him  when  he 
was  old,  but  he  would  have  nothing  for  himself.  He 
will  never  be  forgotten  while  one  of  us  lives,  and  I 
pray  that  all  doctors  everywhere  may  share  his  spirit." 
"  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay 
down  his  life  for  his  friends." 

The  Rural  Call  to  the  Legal  Profession 

Though  the  legal  profession  is  greatly  overcrowded 
in  the  city,  trained  lawyers  are  scarce  in  the  coun- 
try. "  My  impression  is,"  says  a  law  school  dean, 
"very  few  of  the  country  lawyers  are  professionally 
trained  men,  especially  in  the  South  and  some  of  our 
western  states."  Another  dean  estimates  the  number 
of  trained  country  lawyers  as  about  one-fourth.  The 
older  lawyers  in  the  small  places  are  apt  to  be  the 
best  trained,  according  to  the  judgment  of  Dean  Ir- 
vine at  Cornell  Law  School ;  though  that  rule  is  often 
reversed  in  the  cities.  "  Rarely  does  a  law  school 
graduate  settle  down  in  a  town  of  less  than  5,000  peo- 
ple," says  the  dean  at  Boston  University.  The  great 
majority  of  Columbia  law  graduates  remain  in  New 
York  City.  Eighty  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  Cornell  law- 
yers settle  in  cities  above  10,000  people. 

The  secretary  of  the  law  faculty  of  the  University 
of  Michigan  believes  "  there  is  a  need  of  one  or 
more  trained  lawyers  in  every  community  of  a  thou- 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  243 

sand  people.  Such  a  lawyer  would,  of  course,  serve 
the  surrounding  country  as  well  as  the  town  in  which 
he  lives."  Dean  Harlan  F.  Stone  of  Columbia 
writes :  "  I  believe  that  there  will  be  in  the  future 
exceptional  opportunities  for  the  well-trained  lawyer 
in  the  smaller  communities.  He  will  probably  not 
make  as  much  money  as  with  a  large  city  practice, 
but  if  he  possesses  good  general  qualifications  and  in- 
tegrity it  is  inevitable  that  he  should  be  an  influential 
man  in  his  community,  and  live  a  useful  and,  from 
the  broad  point  of  view,  successful  life.  His  chances 
of  entering  politics  or  going  on  the  bench  in  the  right 
way  are  probably  better  than  in  the  large  cities," 

Here,  as  in  the  other  professions,  the  choice  seems 
to  be  between  larger  earnings  in  the  city  and  larger 
rewards  in  the  country;  greater  fees,  with  less  rela- 
tive appreciation,  or  the  finer  rewards  of  gratitude 
for  personal  services  and  neighborly  kindness  and 
the  broad  opportunity  for  influence  and  leadership  in 
a  place  where  both  are  greatly  needed.  The  call  to 
college  men  with  the  legal  mind  and  a  passion  for 
justice,  to  practice  law  in  the  country,  is  a  true  call 
for  Christian  consecration.  It  probably  will  involve 
some  financial  sacrifice,  but  it  will  mean  a  life  of 
great  satisfaction.  The  true  man  who  heeds  this  call 
will  become  the  trusted  adviser  of  the  widow,  the 
protector  of  the  defenseless  and  the  innocent,  the 
righter  of  many  wrongs,  the  peacemaker  in  needless 
feuds,  the  incorporator  of  cooperative  business  proj- 
ects which  will  fraternalize  old  competitions,  the 
public  spirited  leader  in  all  new  movements  for  the 
betterment  of  rural  life;  and,  if  God  wills  and  the 


244  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

people  choose,  a  career  in  straight  politics,  which  no- 
where needs  highminded  leadership  more  than  in  some 
rural  counties  where  the  ballot  is  a  mere  chattel  and 
public  office  a  private  graft. 

Life  Opportunities  in  Agricultural  Professions 

College  men  are  apt  to  overlook  the  fact  that,  after 
all,  the  fundamental  professions  in  the  szountry  are 
those  directly  connected  with  agriculture.  The  sci- 
entific agriculturist,  who  tills  the  soil  as  accurately  as 
the  engineer  constructs  a  bridge  and  with  possibly 
higher  scientific  requirements,  will  naturally  be  the 
prime  agent  in  rural  progress.  It  is  good  to  see  the 
enthusiasm  of  students  in  agriculture  after  they  have 
caught  this  vision.  "  I  like  farming,"  writes  a  stu- 
dent at  the  State  College  of  Washington,  "  and  be- 
lieve there  is  as  much  room  for  scientific  work  in 
agriculture  as  any  other  line  of  work."  Another 
writes,  "  I  think  there  are  great  opportunities  open  for 
agriculture  in  this  Northwest.  At  first  I  thought  I 
never  would  like  the  farm  because  I  could  see  noth- 
ing but  work;  but  I  have  become  acquainted  with 
some  of  the  possibilities  and  find  there  is  something 
besides  drudgery." 

The  city  person  of  average  intelligence  who  thinks 
farming  is  "  just  farming  "  would  be  amazed  to  dis- 
cover the  breadth  and  variety  of  agricultural  profes- 
sions. Besides  scientific  husbandry  in  general,  there 
is  animal  husbandry  and  the  breeding  of  blooded 
stock,  dairying,  farm  management,  horticulture,  ag- 
ricultural engineering  and  technology,  particularly  in 


COUNTRY   Llie  LEADERSHIP  245 

irrigation,  forestry,  veterinary  surgery  and  medicine, 
fruit-growing,  entomology  specializing,  parasitology, 
plant  pathology,  agronomy  and  cereal  breeding,  agri- 
cultural chemistry,  landscape  architecture,  agricul- 
tural editing,  agricultural  teaching,  from  elementary 
grades  to  university,  institute  lecturing,  weather  bu- 
reau service,  scientific  investigating  at  government  ex- 
periment stations,  and  public  service  in  great  variety 
under  state  and  national  departments  of  agriculture. 
In  all  of  these  there  is  a  chance  for  college  men  to 
invest  their  lives  and  reap  the  rewards  of  real  influence. 

Some  Special  Rural  Opportunities 

In  answer  to  the  question  "What  special  oppor- 
tunities are  there  in  country  life  to-day  which  should 
appeal  to  college  students  to  invest  their  lives  in  the 
country  ? "  Secretary  Mann  of  the  Cornell  faculty 
summarized  as  follows:  "Successful  farming; 
teaching  or  supervising  the  teaching  of  agriculture; 
scientific  investigations  at  home  or  in  government 
stations ;  rural  landscape  improvement ;  agricultural 
experts  as  county  agents  or  officers ;  local  agricultural 
experts  on  individual  responsibility;  agricultural  po- 
lice duty,  including  inspectors  of  all  sorts  in  state  and 
national  departments  of  agriculture;  organizing  of 
cooperative  societies;  agricultural  advisers  in  the  em- 
ploy of  railroads,  chambers  of  commerce  and  the  like ; 
representatives  of  commercial  organizations  that  de- 
sire to  extend  their  operations  into  the  open  country, 
as  for  farm  machinery  concerns,  manufacturers  of 
packages,  dairy  supply  houses,  canning  industries  and 


246  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE   COUNTRY 

the  like;  social  betterment;  rural  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work; 
supervisors  of  rural  playgrounds ;  and  rural  civic  im- 
provement." The  list  is  surely  a  varied  one,  broad 
enough  to  fit  any  variety  of  talent,  when  a  man  has  a 
real  love  for  rural  life  and  wishes  to  find  his  life  use- 
fulness in  the  country. 

A  most  pertinent  suggestion  comes  from  Dean 
Meyer  of  the  Agricultural  Department  of  the  Univer- 
city  of  Missouri  which  college  students  may  well  con- 
sider :  "  The  greatest  need  of  the  rural  community  to- 
day is  cooperation ;  but  no  plan  of  cooperation  can 
ever  be  successful  among  farmers  in  the  absence  of 
some  one,  or  a  very  few  men  who  have  all  the  quali- 
fications of  outstanding  leadership.  There  is  a  real 
call  for  our  college  trained  men  to  go  into  the  coun- 
try, study  local  conditions,  and  then  promote  a  plan  of 
business  cooperation.  If  this  is  successful  he  may 
then  expect  with  equal  success  to  carry  on  a  plan  for 
social  cooperation  which  will  lead  to  a  betterment 
of  the  home,  the  church  and  the  school."  Again  we 
are  reminded  that  the  ultimate  problem  is  leadership, 
the  costliest  thing  in  the  world;  but  the  very  com- 
modity of  personality  which  college  men  ought  to 
have  ready  for  wise  investment.  It  is  the  call  for 
community  builders  all  along  the  country-side  which 
forces  itself  upon  the  strongest  men  of  brave  in- 
itiative, of  courage,  tact  and  ability.  This  call,  a 
modem  call  of  new  insistence  and  vast  significance, 
should  challenge  the  college  man  like  a  call  to  battle. 

The  Call  of  the  County  Work  Secretary 

Among  the  many  calls  to  a  life  of  service  which 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  247 

challenge  the  college  man,  one  of  the  most  urgent  is 
the  call  to  rural  leadership  in  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association.  It  is  peculiarly  a  college  man's  task. 
Possibly  one  country  lawyer  in  four  is  professionally 
trained.  The  percentage  of  educated  country  minis- 
ters is  smaller  still.  Country  doctors,  though  usually 
medical  graduates,  are  very  seldom  college  men.  But 
the  rural  secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation is  usually  college  trained.  With  wise  fore- 
sight, the  Association  is  sending  many  of  its  best  men 
into  the  country  field  where  the  need  of  leadership  is 
so  acute.  No  other  branch  of  Association  work  has 
so  large  a  proportion  of  college  trained  men  except  the 
work  with  college  students  themselves ;  this  is  the  right 
perspective. 

The  man  who  aspires  to  this  interesting  and  stra- 
tegic work  with  the  boys  and  young  manhood  of  the 
country  must  be  a  man  of  large  capacity  for  leader- 
ship and  with  a  broad  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
He  must  be  a  keen  lover  of  country  life  and  must  un- 
derstand country  people  and  their  great  interests. 
The  more  he  knows  of  scientific  agriculture  the  bet- 
ter ;  but  he  must  above  all  be  a  man  of  devout  Chris- 
tian spirit  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Bible ; 
with  a  fine  friendliness  for  all  sorts  of  people,  and  a 
great  longing  to  help  the  country  boy  to  develop  into 
useful  Christian  manhood. 

In  most  other  lines  of  rural  service  a  man's  influ- 
ence is  ordinarily  limited  to  the  single  community  in 
which  he  lives.  The  County  Work  Secretary's  field 
is  an  entire  county.  He  is  not  working  merely  with 
a  single  group  of  people  but  with  similar  groups  in  a 


248  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

score  of  townships  and  usually  the  finest  people  in 
each  village,  whom  he  selects  for  their  local  Christian 
influence  and  their  devotion  to  community  welfare. 
Through  these  local  leaders  our  Secretary  multiplies 
his  own  life,  as  he  shares  with  them  his  visions  and 
his  hopes,  as  he  enlists  them  for  specific  tasks  and 
trains  them  for  the  service;  giving  them  the  benefit 
of  his  expert  knowledge  of  country  life,  of  rural  so- 
ciology and  of  boy  life,  of  teaching  method  and  the 
modern  interpretation  of  the  Bible. 

While  his  primary  task  is  the  discovery  and  train- 
ing of  local  leadership  as  a  Christian  community 
builder,  he  also  makes  his  office  a  convenient  clearing 
house  of  ideas  and  practical  plans  for  community  bet- 
terment. As  he  quietly  goes  about  his  work  it  soon 
becomes  evident  that  he  is  a  "  man  who  knows  " ;  and 
his  expert  knowledge,  his  cooperation  and  advice  are 
sought  by  parents  and  teachers,  churches  and  Sunday 
schools,  pastors  and  superintendents,  school  super- 
visors, women's  clubs,  farmers'  institutes  and  Granges, 
and  he  must  be  a  man  of  large  ability  to  prove  equal 
to  his  opportunity.  As  a  trusted  neutral  among  the 
churches,  he  of  all  men  has  the  best  chance  to  over- 
come church  rivalries  and  bring  together  jealous 
churches  in  a  working  federation  or  a  real  unity.  He 
must  be  at  once  a  man  of  prayer  and  an  athletic  spe- 
ciaHst  who  can  through  his  local  leaders  organize 
wholesome  sports  among  his  boys;  he  must  not  only 
have  a  genius  for  cooperation  and  securing  the  co- 
operation of  others  in  worth-while  tasks,  but  he  must 
be  able  to  take  the  single  farmer,  single-handed, 
and    in    a    quiet,    friendly    but    masterful    way    get 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  249 

that  farmer  to  give  his  growing  boy  a  fair  chance. 
The  call  to  the  rural  secretaryship  is  as  genuine  a 
call  to  a  life  of  ministering  love  as  is  the  call  to  the 
ministry.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  few  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful rural  secretaries  are  ordained  ministers  and 
find  their  theological  training  and  pastoral  experience 
of  great  value  in  their  work.  These  secretaries  are 
not  using  their  present  position  as  a  stepping-stone  to 
the  city  field.  Few  of  them  would  accept  any  city 
opportunity,  as  experience  has  proved.  They  have 
devoted  their  lives  to  the  work  of  rural  redemption, 
especially  saving  the  country  boy.  They  have  fitted 
themselves  to  be  experts  in  rural  work,  the  work  they 
love,  and  few  of  them  ever  care  to  leave  it.  This 
complete  consecration  accounts  largely  for  their  suc- 
cess. Let  a  man  not  attempt  to  share  their  work  un- 
less he  can  bear  their  cross.  It  is  a  call  to  heroic 
service,  but  it  is  irksome  only  to  the  man  who  has 
missed  the  joy  of  complete  consecration  to  the  coun- 
try field  and  to  the  Man  of  Galilee. 

B.      A  CHALLENGE  TO  COLLEGE  WOMEN 

I.     Some  Responsibilities  Shared  with  Men 

A  Necessary  Partnership,  and  its  Increasing  Burden 
Men  can  never  solve  the  rural  problem  without  the 
help  of  women. 

In  the  primitive  days  of  early  barbarism,  it  was 
woman  that  domesticated  the  farm  animals, — while 
men  were  away,  at  war  and  the  chase, — and  thus 
made  possible  agriculture  and  the  arts  of  rural  life. 


250  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

We  may  well  expect  educated  modern  womanhood  to 
contribute  its  share  even  in  the  development  of 
scientific  agriculture ;  but  in  all  the  social  problems  of 
the  new  rural  civilization  the  help  of  women  is  in- 
dispensable. 

The  rural  home,  school,  church  and  grange  and 
every  other  institution  for  the  social,  educational  and 
religious  welfare  of  country  folks  depend  very 
greatly  upon  the  cooperation  and  leadership  of  trained 
women.  To  a  degree  this  has  always  been  true;  but 
in  several  aspects  this  responsibility  is  destined  in  the 
future  to  fall  more  heavily  than  ever  upon  women. 

Responsibility  for  Rural  Education 

For  various  reasons  men  are  rapidly  retiring  from 
the  ranks  of  country  school  teachers.  In  a  single 
generation  the  proportion  of  male  teachers  in  Ameri- 
can schools  has  diminished  50%.  In  the  North  At- 
lantic states  86%  of  all  teachers  are  women;  while 
even  in  the  western  states  over  80%  are  women, 
against  55%  in  1870. 

It  appears  to  be  quite  a  safe  statement,  even  judg- 
ing by  incomplete  statistics,  that  there  are  more  women 
teachers  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  than  in 
all  the  rest  of  the  world  combined.  Whereas  only 
15%  of  the  teachers  of  Germany  are  women,  and 
36%  in  Switzerland,  47%  in  France  and  64%  in  Italy, 
the  proportion  in  the  United  States  the  same  year 
(1906)  is  found  to  be  76.4%. 

While  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  needs  of  adolescent 
boys  there  may  be  reasons  to  deplore  this  increase  of 
women    teachers,    it    is    certainly    accelerating.     The 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  25 1 

educational  burdens  of  the  country  are  falling  more 
and  more  upon  women.  College  girls  should  study 
rural  education  as  a  real  vocation  and  realize  the  vast 
opportunity  for  unselfish  social  service  which  is  in- 
volved in  it. 

The  college  settlement  in  the  city  slum  has  aroused 
not  merely  a  romantic  interest  but  the  consecration 
of  many  earnest  college  girls.  Let  more  of  them  feel 
the  same  call  to  altruistic  service  in  the  rural  school, 
accepting  it  with  a  genuine  love  for  country  boys  and 
girls  and  for  coimtry  life, — then  the  problems  of 
rural  education  will  lose  much  of  their  seriousness. 
With  increasing  centralization  of  rural  schools  and 
ever  rising  standards,  worth-while  opportunities  in 
country  teaching  will  rapidly  develop.  Nor  will  the 
need  be  merely  for  teachers  in  the  grades  and  in  high 
school  work.  Capable  women  are  everywhere  needed 
in  educational  leadership.  Country  life  specialists  are 
now  needed  in  state  and  country  normal  schools, 
agricultural  high  schools,  and  county  high  schools,  as 
well  as  the  country  colleges. 

J^esponsibility  for  Rural  Health  and  Sanitation 

Probably  the  chief  reason  for  the  slow  progress  of 
modern  sanitation  in  rural  districts  is  the  lack  of  train- 
ing of  country  doctors  in  the  modern  aspects  of  their 
profession.  In  the  country,  sanitation  is  largely  a 
household  matter,  and  women  have  most  at  stake  and 
the  greatest  influence  here.  In  a  few  months  or 
years  one  trained  nurse  or  woman  physician  could 
raise  the  ideals  of  sanitation  and  hygiene  in  the  coun- 
try homes  of  a  large  area. 


252  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

Old-fashioned  rural  neighborliness  and  large  fam- 
ilies have  combined  in  the  past  to  keep  trained  nurses 
in  the  city.  The  country  people  have  managed  to 
get  along  without  them  usually.  But  both  these  causes 
have  been  diminishing  and  there  is  serious  need  in 
most  country  sections  for  the  expert  services  of 
trained  nurses.  The  "  district  nurse  association  "  plan 
has  already  gained  acceptance  in  country  places  and 
its  rapid  spread  would  prevent  much  hardship.  Com- 
bined with  community  ownership  of  sick-room  ap- 
pliances, this  would  greatly  help  to  make  country  life 
comfortable  for  people  accustomed  to  city  conven- 
iences. 

Rural  frugality  hates  to  pay  a  woman  nurse  a 
man's  wages!  But  gradually  efficiency  will  win  and 
the  higher  life  standards  prevail,  and  this  will  give 
countless  young  women  splendid  opportunities  for 
broad  service,  with  which  the  petty  office  positions  in 
the  city  cannot  compare. 

Conservative  country  folks  are  slow  to  recognize 
the  professional  authority  of  the  woman  physician; 
but  the  prejudice  will  soon  pass.  Certainly  a  capable 
woman  with  a  modern  medical  equipment  would  not 
need  many  months  to  prove  her  superiority  to  the 
average  low-grade  country  doctor;  and  she  would 
soon  find  a  great  life  work.  While  college  men  are 
more  and  more  shirking  this  great  healing  profession, 
let  the  college  women  give  it  large  consideration.  It 
offers  wonderful  scope  for  serving  the  deepest  needs 
of  humanity  as  well  as  their  bodily  ills;  and  the 
college  girls  who  dream  of  medical  missions  need  not 
go  so  far  from  home  as  India  to  realize  their  visions. 


COUNTRY   LIFE  LEADERSHIP  253 

Opportunities  for  Religious  Leadership 

The  burdens  of  the  country  pastorate,  like  the  bur- 
den of  the  ballot,  ought  not  to  fall  upon  the  women ; 
but  the  time  seems  to  have  come  when  there  are  not 
enough  good  intelligent  men  to  maintain  either. 

It  is  impossible  at  present  to  furnish  one-half  of  the 
rural  churches  in  the  United  States  with  trained  men 
to  be  their  pastors.  Canada  imports  hundreds  of 
clergymen  annually  from  England.  Thousands  of 
rural  pulpits  in  the  States  are  vacant.  Tens  of  thou- 
sands of  rural  churches  have  merely  untrained  preach- 
ers. Very  few  have  resident  pastors.  Dr.  Wilson  of 
the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions  is  author- 
ity for  the  statement  that  of  the  192  country  Presby- 
terian ministers  in  Missouri,  only  two  of  them  are  liv- 
ing with  their  people  in  the  open  country. 

We  find  the  chief  reason  for  country  church  decay 
the  lack  of  a  trained,  resident  pastor.  Under  present 
conditions  it  is  impossible  to  meet  this  need  from  the 
supply  of  college  men  entering  Christian  work.  To 
be  sure,  thousands  of  these  unmanned  churches  are 
surplus  churches.  They  have  no  real  field ;  perhaps 
never  had.  And  Providence  is  allowing  them  to  die, 
for  the  glory  of  God!  It  is  far  better  when  they 
graciously  unite  with  some  neighboring  church, — ^but 
the  necessary  grace  is  often  lacking. 

Very  many  churches  with  a  real  field  need  ministers 
and  can  get  only  untrained  men.  Hundreds  of  such 
churches  write  in  vain  to  the  seminaries  every  year, 
as  the  writer  can  testify.  There  seem  to  be  plenty 
of  untrained  ministers,  in  most  states;  but  it  is  an 


254  THE   CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

open  question  whether  such  leadership  does  more  good 
than  harm.  Would  not  a  well-trained  woman,  with  a 
genuine  Christian  purpose,  gifts  of  real  leadership, 
and  a  complete  college  and  theological  training,  be 
likely  to  do  better  service  in  the  pastorate  of  such  a 
church  than  an  untrained  man?  It  seems  strange  that 
we  even  consider  it  a  subject  for  debate ! 

The  number  of  women  ministers  seems  to  be  in- 
creasing in  several  denominations,  though  not  rapidly 
yet.  Sometimes  they  are  untrained,  but  when  well 
equipped  they  render  efficient  service.  Occasionally 
you  find  a  woman  with  the  true  pastor's  spirit  gaining 
surprising  success  in  a  difficult  country  church  after 
a  series  of  men  have  conspicuously  failed.  It  might 
be  well  to  try  this  experiment  oftener. 

We  are  now  developing  in  America  the  second ' 
generation  of  college  women.  If  eugenics  teaches  us 
anything,  it  gives  us  the  right  to  expect  from  these 
college-bred  daughters  of  college-trained  mothers  an 
increased  efficiency  and  a  new  type  of  leadership. 
With  every  decade,  a  higher  type  of  American  woman- 
hood, the  peers  of  the  ablest  women  of  history,  is  be- 
ing developed  in  the  land.  At  last  we  are  obliged  to 
remove  all  our  traditional  barriers  and  to  offer  them 
unlimited  scope  for  their  life  usefulness.  Every  pro- 
fession is  now  open  to  them,  wholly  on  the  basis  of 
merit. 

Among  these  opportunities  for  the  right  sort  of 
trained  woman  is  the  country  pastorate.     It  requires 

'  Also  a  few  of  the  third  generation.  For  eighty  years  Oberlin 
has  offered  women,  equally  with  men,  its  privileges  of  higher  educa- 
tion; and  in  1908  conferred  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity 
upon  a  distinguished  woman-minister,  an  alumna  both  in  arts  and 
theology  a  half  century  before. 


COUNTRY   LIFE    LEADERSHIP  255 

possibly  a  rare  type  of  womanhood,  and  probably  a 
small  percentage  would  succeed.  But  mere  prejudice 
against  the  woman  minister  should  not  deprive  the 
country  churches  of  her  sympathetic  service  if  she  is 
a  woman  of  the  right  sort.  Let  fitness,  training  and 
worth  decide,  not  mere  traditions  and  prejudices. 
Sometimes  a  man  and  his  wife,  both  ordained  minis- 
ters, can  together  serve  two  churches  acceptably  and 
successfully.  In  fact,  a  case  can  be  cited  where  in  a 
western  state  the  important  work  of  church  super- 
vision is  done  conjointly  by  the  state  superintendent  of 
home  missions  and  his  equally  capable  wife,  both  being 
trained,  ordained  ministers. 

It  is  needless  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  womanly 
sympathy,  intuition  and  tact  are  needed  in  the  rural 
pastorate  and  that  the  consecration  of  the  right  type  of 
college  woman's  finest  powers  can  perhaps  find  no  bet- 
ter field,  or  receive  deeper  appreciation,  than  in  the 
service  of  the  rural  churches.  The  question  is  some- 
times asked.  If  a  college  woman  wished  to  study  for  the 
ministry,  how  could  she  secure  her  training?  Would 
the  theological  seminaries  admit  her  as  a  student? 
The  best  answer  to  this  question  is  the  fact  that  there 
were  467  women  enrolled  as  theological  students  in 
46  of  the  193  theological  schools  of  the  United  States 
during  the  last  college  year,  according  to  the  annual 
report  just  issued  by  the  National  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion. Several  are  non-sectarian  schools;  the  rest  rep- 
resent twenty  difl^erent  denominations.* 

•Disciples,  Congreg'arional,  Methodist  Episcopal,  Unitarian,  Bap- 
tist, Universalist,  Free  Baptist,  Free  Methodist,  Evangelical  Association, 
Christian  Brethren,  Methodist  Protestant,  Christian,  Evangelical  Lu- 
tberaa,    Seventh    Day    Baptist,  Wesley  an    Methodist.    Duokard,    United 


256  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

Quite  likely  a  large  proportion  of  these  young 
women  are  studying  to  be  foreign  missionaries,  teach- 
ers of  the  Bible  in  college,  or  deaconesses.  Not  only 
in  the  United  States,  but  also  in  the  Presbyterian  and 
Methodist  churches  of  Canada,  hundreds  of  young 
women  are  finding  splendid  scope  for  consecrated  tal- 
ents in  this  deaconess  work.  As  yet,  however,  this 
branch  of  Christian  service  is  wholly  confined  to  cities, 
not  necessarily  because  of  greater  need  there,  but  be- 
cause the  city  has  the  necessary  means  to  pay  for  the 
work.  Ordained  or  not  ordained,  the  rural  churches 
sadly  need  the  inspiring  capable  leadership  of  our 
college  women. 

11.     Some  Unique  Opportunities  for  Rural  Social 
Service 

The  Opportunity  of  the  Village  Librarian 

As  the  country  grows  older  the  number  of  rural 
public  libraries  increases.  Not  only  are  Carnegie 
libraries  rather  frequently  seen  in  the  smaller  towns, 
but  neat  little  stone  structures,  erected  by  some  former 
resident  who  loved  his  old  country  home,  are  oc- 
casionally found  even  in  small  communities.  It  is 
one  of  the  finest  ways  to  honor  one's  family  name  and 
to  serve  the  social  needs  of  one's  early  home.  No 
family  monument  could  be  more  sensible  or  service- 
able. 

Usually  the  rural  library  is  more  than  a  mere  read- 
ing room  with  book-storage  attachment.     It  is  always 

Brethren,    Methodist   Episcopal   South,    Presbyterian   and  African  Metb- 
edist  Episcopal. 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  257 

a  center  of  social  interest,  and  when  built  on  generous 
lines  becomes  a  real  "  neighborhood  house."  As  such 
institutions  multiply, — and  they  certain  will, — 
many  young  women  of  social  gifts,  as  well  as  technical 
library  training,  will  be  needed  to  make  the  library 
or  neighborhood  house  a  center  of  social  power,  the 
value  of  which  will  be  limited  only  by  the  personal 
resources  of  the  librarian.  Without  the  nerve  strain 
of  teaching,  it  closely  parallels  the  teacher's  opportu- 
nity with  the  boys  and  girls,  and  has  a  growing  chance 
to  stimulate  the  mental  life  of  men  and  women.  As 
women's  clubs  increase  in  the  country,  more  farm 
women  are  cultivating  the  reading  habit.  Every  year 
the  bulletins  of  the  agricultural  colleges  with  their 
"  Reading  Courses  for  Farmers'  Wives "  are  getting 
more  popular. 

The  Specialist  in  Household  Economics 

Perhaps  the  sorest  spot  in  the  rural  problem  is  the 
lot  of  the  neglected  farm  wife  and  mother.  Even 
where  agricultural  prosperity  is  indicated  by  great 
barns  filled  with  plenty,  often  a  dilapidated  little  farm- 
house near  by,  devoid  of  beauty,  comfort  or  conven- 
iences, measures  the  utter  disregard  for  the  house- 
wife's lot. 

Money  is  freely  spent  when  new  machinery  is 
needed  on  the  farm,  or  another  fifty-acre  piece  is  added 
after  a  prosperous  season ;  but  seldom  a  thought  of 
the  needs  of  the  kitchen.  While  the  men  of  the  fam- 
ily ride  the  sulky  plow  and  riding  harrow  of  the  twen- 
tieth century,  the  women  have  neither  a  washing  ma- 
chine nor  an  indoors  pump, — to  say  nothing  of  running 


258  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE   COUNTRY 

water,  sanitary  plumbing  or  a  bathtub !  ^  Sometimes 
the  drudgery  of  the  farm  kitchen  is  endured  by  the 
mother  uncomplainingly,  or  even  contentedly;  but  the 
daughters  recoil  from  it  with  growing  discontent. 

The  life  conditions  of  farm  women  are  rapidly  im- 
proving; but  the  gospel  of  better  homes  and  conven- 
ient kitchens  needs  thousands  of  gentle  apostles, 
equipped  with  modern  methods  of  household  economy, 
hygiene,  cooking  and  every  domestic  art  and  science. 
It  necessitates  rare  tact,  and  it  is  doubtless 
most  effective  when  least  professional,  when  its 
benevolence  is  simply  veiled  by  neighborliness,  joined 
perhaps  with  the  daily  routine  of  the  teacher  or  li- 
brarian. But  the  purpose  involved  is  a  splendidly 
worthy  one,  to  raise  the  standards  of  housekeeping  in 
a  whole  community  of  homes  and  bring  in  a  new 
comfort  and  efficiency  for  both  men  and  women.  To 
do  this  is  to  enrich  and  sweeten  country  life  at  its 
source. 

Demonstration  Centers  of  Rural  Culture 

In  the  cities  a  very  effective  social  service  is  done 
in  the  settlements  as  demonstration  centers  of  refine- 
ment and  Christian  living.  We  need  the  same  quietly 
effective  plan  in  thousands  of  rural  communities  where 
life  is  still  crude  rather  than  simple  and  where  the  finer 
life-values  are  too  little  appreciated. 

As  the  new  rural  civilization  develops  and  the 
higher  education  becomes  more  diffused,  this  gentle 
but  powerful  leavening  of  country  life  is  bound  to 
follow.     In  very  many  communities  it  is  already  in 

^  Ninety-five  and  two-tenths  per  cent  of  the  300,000  rural  homes  in 
Ohio   last   year   bad   no   bathtub. 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  259 

process.  It  ought  to  follow  as  a  matter  of  course 
that  wherever  a  college-bred  woman  returns  to  a  coun- 
try home,  or  founds  a  new  one,  there  is  developed  a 
real  demonstration  center  of  rural  culture.  The  down- 
drag  of  environment  sometimes  proves  too  strong  for 
weaker  natures  and  higher  ideals  are  gradually  for- 
gotten. Sometimes,  too,  a  tactless  condescension  re- 
veals to  sensitive  neighbors  that  fatal  sense  of  superi- 
ority which  is  deadly  to  all  good  influence,  for  rural 
democracy  is  passing  proud. 

But  with  the  right  spirit  of  neighborly  helpfulness 
and  an  effort  to  overcome  the  barrier  which  is  al- 
ways raised  at  first  by  superior  advantages,  the 
woman  of  true  unaffected  culture  has  a  great  chance 
for  fine  influence  in  a  rural  community. 

In  such  a  community  not  many  miles  from  Buffalo 
there  is  such  a  gentlewoman.  She  is  blessing  the 
whole  neighborhood  to-day  in  scores  of  simple  ways. 
According  to  her  own  modest  statement,  she  is  just 
"  idling  "  now,  for  ill-health  interrupted  her  cherished 
plans  as  a  successful  teacher  in  a  mission  school  in 
China. 

In  keen  disappointment  but  fine  cheerfulness  she 
settled  in  this  little  village,  and  soon  found  ample 
scope  for  quiet,  happy  usefulness.  The  old  house  she 
had  bought  for  a  home  was  remodeled  modestly  but 
with  rare  effectiveness,  with  verandas,  fireplaces,  cosy 
comers  and  a  convenient  kitchen.  With  a  distinctly 
rural  note  in  it  all,  the  house  was  furnished  in  inex- 
pensive, elegant  simplicity,  with  a  charming  effect 
which  became  quite  the  wonder  of  the  community. 

Neighborly  relations  were  easily  established  and  the 


26o  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

"  running  in  "  habit  was  ere  long  encouraged.  Soon 
the  cheerful  living  room,  so  unlike  the  urbanized  par- 
lors of  the  neighborhood,  became  a  social  center  for 
the  young  folks,  and  music  and  good  pictures  and  the 
joyous  life  developed  undreamed  of  social  resources 
in  the  community,  hitherto  latent  but  unexpressed. 
It  is  a  genuine  demonstration  center  of  rural  culture, 
but  unspoiled  by  any  professional  taint.  It  is  just 
neighborly  friendliness,  with  a  well-guarded  passion 
for  helpfulness;  and  it  is  bringing  that  true  human 
appreciation  which  all  genuine  life-sharing  wins. 
May  a  thousand  other  college-bred  women  see  the 
same  vision  and  earn  the  same  joy. 

Womanly  Leadership  in  Church  and  Club 

The  college  woman  who  '*  buries  herself  "  in  a  rural 
community  has  only  herself  to  blame  if  she  finds  no 
opportunity  worthy  of  her  talents.  There  may  be  no 
"  career "  of  spectacular  success  awaiting  her,  but 
homespun  chances  to  serve,  and  be  loved  for  her 
helpfulness,  meet  her  at  every  turn. 

If  she  stands  off  a  year  or  so,  in  self-pity,  bemoan- 
ing the  meagerness  of  her  environment,  she  may  work 
for  a  decade  thereafter  to  regain  lost  confidence  and 
live  down  a  reputation  for  snobbishness.  But  if  she 
shows  herself  friendly  at  once ;  if  she  leads  only  when 
invited,  and  earns  the  opportunity  by  a  genuine  mod- 
esty, ere  long  her  talents,  and  whatever  leadership 
capacity  her  college  life  has  given  her,  will  find  plenty 
of  exercise. 

A  single  college  graduate  of  the  right  sort  can  do 
wonders  in  a  little  country  church  or  grange  or  club. 


COUNTRY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  261 

The  rural  churches  are  suffering  for  trained  laymen 
to  make  them  effective  institutions;  but  the  need  is 
sometimes  just  as  acute  for  the  right  sort  of  womanly 
leadership,  trained,  tactful,  enthusiastic  and  effective. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  social  clubs  and  all  local  in- 
stitutions which  are  open  to  women.  With  the  ris- 
ing standards  in  rural  life  we  shall  look  more  and  more 
to  such  women  of  culture  to  bear  the  burdens  of 
redirecting  and  vitalizing  the  work  of  rural  institu- 
tions. It  is  a  worthy  work  and  brings  its  own  true 
rewards  if  generously  and  wisely  done. 

The  Rural  Association  Secretary 

Far  more  is  now  being  done  for  the  country  boy 
than  for  the  country  girl  in  many  communities,  and 
a  few  college  women  are  discovering  in  this  fact  a 
great  call  to  social  and  religious  service. 

In  a  few  colleges,  through  their  outside  religious 
work,  the  girls  have  become  a  little  acquainted  with 
the  life  of  the  younger  girls  in  the  surrounding  coun- 
try. Sympathy  leads  them  to  try  to  help  broaden  the 
outlook  of  these  younger  sisters,  and  to  bring  them 
the  religious  ideals  and  the  wholesome  fun,  both  of 
which  their  lives  often  lack. 

The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  for  a 
few  years  past  has  conducted  community  work  in 
country  towns  on  lines  somewhat  similar  to  the  county 
work  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  A 
few  young  women  are  working  as  county  secretaries, 
and  they  are  women  with  a  vision,  and  a  splendid 
earnestness.  The  work,  however,  is  still  quite  new. 
It  needs  development  and  extension  into  the  smaller 


262  THE  CHALLENGE  OF   THE  COUNTRY 

villages  which  need  it  most.  Doubtless  this  will  be 
done  as  fast  as  college  women  Of  the  right  sort,  with 
a  real  consecration  to  the  needs  of  the  country  girl, 
present  themselves  as  volunteers  for  this  service. 

College  men  are  finding  a  splendid  chance  for  life 
investment  to-day  in  the  rural  secretaryship, — as  has 
been  described  earlier  in  this  chapter.  There  is  no 
reason  why  their  success  with  the  country  boys  can- 
not be  duplicated  by  successful  women  secretaries  with 
the  country  girls  and  women. 

It  is  idle  to  claim  that  the  average  country  homes 
are  doing  all  that  needs  doing  for  the  country  girls, 
or  that  the  church  life  and  school  life  are  effectively 
safeguarding  them.  Moral  conditions  in  too  many 
villages,  tardily  perceived  but  often  staggering  when 
discovered,  belie  this  false  optimism.  We  must  face 
the  fact  that  country  girls  need  a  more  wholesome 
recreational  life  than  most  villages  afford,  and  higher 
ideals  of  true  womanliness  than  they  often  gain  at 
home  or  church  or  school. 

College  young  women  of  the  right  sort,  with  a 
winsome  personality  and  some  talent  for  leadership, 
with  social  grace  and  power,  with  something  of  ath- 
letic skill  and  a  knowledge  of  organized  play,  and 
above  all  with  a  wholesome  Christian  earnestness  in- 
terpreting religion  in  practical  modem  terms,  have  a 
great  field  of  service  among  these  country  girls  with 
all  their  social  hungers  unsatisfied  and  their  latent 
capacities  unawakened.  The  urgent  need  of  such 
work  in  numerous  rural  counties  can  hardly  be  ques- 
tioned. Its  vast  possibilities  can  be  discovered  only 
by  actual  experiment  in  any  community. 


COUNTOY   LIFE   LEADERSHIP  263 

In  very  many  ways  to-day  the  rural  problem,  so 
fascinatingly  varied  and  increasingly  urgent,  chal- 
lenges the  personal  interest  of  the  young  women  of 
our  colleges.  They  are  only  beginning  to  study  it. 
Their  eyes  have  been  all  too  narrowly  set  on  the  city 
and  the  town.  But  their  rapidly  increasing  numbers 
as  well  as  the  broadening  every  year  of  their  outlook 
upon  life  gives  us  reason  for  the  faith  that  this  chal- 
lenge will  not  be  unheeded.  Self-sacrificing  woman- 
hood is  the  salvation  of  every  civilization,  urban  or 
rural.  It  needs  only  to  demonstrate  the  need;  then 
consecrated  womanhood  will  heed  the  call.  The  com- 
ing decade  should  see  them  by  the  hundred  investing 
their  lives  in  rural  social  service  and  community 
betterment,  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  may  sooner 
come. 

Nothing  could  better  voice,  to  the  young  men  and 
women  of  America,  the  heroic  appeal  of  country  life 
leadership  and  service  than  Professor  Carver's  manly 
challenge  printed  on  the  next  page.  Though  not 
written  exclusively  for  the  country,  it  fits  rural  life 
most  admirably. 


264  THE   CHALLENGE   OF  THE   COUNTRY 


The  Productive  Life  Fellowship 

*'*vnr  offers  to  young  men  days  of  toil  and 
I  nights  of  study.  It  offers  frugal  fare  and 
•A.  plain  clothes.  It  offers  lean  bodies,  hard 
muscles,  horny  hands,  or  furrowed  brows.  It 
offers  wholesome  recreation  to  the  extent 
necessary  to  maintain  the  highest  efficiency.  It 
offers  the  burdens  of  bringing  up  large  families 
and  training  them  in  the  productive  life.  It 
offers  the  obligation  of  using  all  wealth  as  tools 
and  not  as  means  of  self-gratification.  It  does 
not  offer  the  insult  of  a  life  of  ease,  or  assthetio 
enjoyment,  or  graceful  consumption,  or  emo- 
tional ecstasy.  It  offers,  instead,  the  joy  of 
productive  achievement,  of  participating  in  the 
building  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

To  young  women  also  it  offers  toil,  studyt 
frugal  fare,  and  plain  clothes,  such  as  befit  those 
who  are  honored  with  a  great  and  difficult  task. 
It  offers  also  the  pains,  the  burdens  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  motherhood.  It  offers  also  the 
obligation  and  perpetuating  in  succeeding  gen- 
erations the  principles  of  the  productive  life 
made  manifest  in  themselves.  It  does  not  offer 
the  insult  of  a  life  of  pride  and  vanity.  It  offers 
the  joys  of  achievement,  of  self-expression,  not 
alone  in  dead  {marble  and  canvas,  but  also  in 
the  plastic  lives  of  children  to  be  shaped  and 
moulded  into  those  ideal  forms  of  mind  and 
heart  which  their  dreams  have  pictured.  In 
these  ways  it  offers  to  them  also  the  joys  of 
participating  in  the  building  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God."« 

»  From  "The  Religion  Worth  Havina"  Thooas  Nixon  Carver,  p.  137. 


COUNTRY    LIFE    LEADERSHIP  265 

Test  Questions  on  Chapter  VIII. 

I. — Why  are  college  students  discovering  a  new  in- 
terest in  studying  the  rural  problem? 

2. — What  proportion  of  your  college  enrollment  came 
from  country  communities,  and  what  percent- 
age of  your  alumni  have  invested  their  lives  in 
the  country  ?  Compare  this  with  other  colleges 
mentioned  in  this  chapter. 

3. — Show  how  the  vital  interests  of  the  city  are 
deeply  involved  in  the  problem  of  rural  leader- 
ship, 

4. — When  adequate  support  is  secured,  what  special 
opportunities  for  service  do  you  see  in  the 
work  of  a  country  teacher? 

5. — What  elements  in  the  call  for  trained  ministers 
for  country  churches  appeal  to  you  as  most 
urgent? 

6. — Show  how  the  modern  minister,  equal  to  his  task, 
has  as  big  an  opportunity  to-day  as  ever  in  the 
past. 

7. — What  elements  of  heroism  in  the  modern  min- 
istry make  equally  high  demands  on  the  earnest 
college  man,  whether  he  stays  in  America  or 
goes  to  the  foreign  field  ? 

8. — ^Why  are  college  graduates  avoiding  the  med- 
ical profession  to-day  more  than  formerly? 

9. — What  do  you  think  of  the  special  opportunity  and 

need  of  trained  country  physicians  ? 
10. — How  do  you  estimate  the  chance  a  trained  coun- 
try lawyer  has  to-day  for  Christian  influence 
and  service? 


266  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

II. — Among  the  various  professions  connected  with 
modern  agriculture,  which  offers  the  best  op- 
portunity for  the  investment  of  a  life  in  worth- 
while service? 

12. — What  do  you  think  of  the  County  Work  secre- 
taryship as  a  chance  for  real  rural  leadership 
and  community  building? 

13. — Compare  the  proportion  of  women  teachers  in  the 
United  States  and  in  the  rest  of  the  world. 
What  does  this  indicate? 

14. — Discuss  the  opportunities  in  the  country  for 
trained  nurses  and  physicians. 

15. — What  is  the  modem  opportunity  for  women  in 
rural  religious  leadership,  and  what  sort  of 
a  woman  could  succeed  as  a  country  pastor? 

16. — What  do  you  think  of  the  opening  for  village 
librarians  and  "  neighborhood  house  "  workers  ? 

17. — In  what  details  do  country  homes  need  expert 
leadership  in  household  economics  and  do- 
mestic science? 

18. — Compare  the  demonstration  centers  of  rural  cul- 
ture which  you  have  known  with  the  illustra- 
tion described  in  this  chapter. 

19. — ^What  do  you  think  of  the  work  of  the  County 
Work  secretary  of  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association? 

20. — What  other  opportunities  for  service  in  rural 
communities  come  to  college  women  in 
country  homes? 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

A  Classified  Bibliography 

Suggested  collateral  readings  for  further  study 
in  connection  with  the  topics  treated  in  each  chapter 
of  this  book. 

I.    The  Rural  Problem 

Its  Development  and  Present  Urgency 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  pp.  31-43  in  "The  Country  Life  Movement" 
Butterfield,  K.  L.,  "The  Rural  Problem,"  chapter  i  in  "The 

Country  Church  and  the  Rural  Problem." 
Butterfield,   K.   L.,   "  Problems   of    Progress,"   chapter  2   in 

"  Chapters  in  Rural  Progress." 
Anderson,    W.    L.,   "The    Rural    Partnership   with    Cities," 

chapter  2,  in  "The  Country  Town." 
Anderson,  W.  L.,  "The  Extent  of  Rural  Depletion,"  chapter 

3,  in  same. 
Anderson,  W.  L.,  "Local  Degeneracy,"  chapter  s,  in  same. 
Roads,  Charles,  "  Rural  Christendom,"  chapters  3,  4  and  5. 
Gillette,  J.   M.,  "  Conditions   and   Needs   of   Country   Life," 

pp.  3-1 1  in  "Country  Life."* 
Hartman,  E.  T.,  "Village  Problems  and  Characteristics,"  pp. 

234-243  in  same.* 
Hibbard,  B.  H.,  "Farm  Tenancy  in  the  United  States,"  pp. 

29-39  in  same.* 
Cance,   A.   E.,   "  Immigrant   Rural   Communities,"  pp.   69-80 

in  same.* 
Plunkett,  Sir  Horace,  "  The  Rural  Life  Problem  in  the  United 

States."  chapters  3-4. 

*  Issue  of  the  "  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and 
Social    Science,"   March,    1912, 

269 


270  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE   COUNTRY 

II.    Country  Life  Optimism 

Rural  Resources  and  the  Country  Life  Movement 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "Why  Boys  Leave  the  Farm"  and  "Why 
Persons  Take  to  Farming,"  pp.  89-136  in  "The  Training 
of  Farmers." 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "Country  and  City,"  chapter  2  in  "The  Out- 
look to  Nature." 

Butterfield,  K.  L,  "The  Solution  of  the  Rural  Problem," 
chapter  2  in  "  The  Country  Church  and  the  Rural  Prob- 
lem." 

Anderson,  W.  L,  chapters  4,  6,  8,  II  and  12,  in  "The  Coun- 
try Town." 

Carver,  T.  N.,  "  Shall  Rural  People  Set  Their  Own  Stand- 
ards ? "  pp.  370-4  in  "  Principles  of  Rural  Economics." 

Roads,  Charles,  "  Present  Relations  of  City  and  Country " 
and  "A  Great  Future  for  Rural  Districts,"  chapters  2 
and  7  in  "  Rural  Christendom." 

Ogden,  H.,  "Vital  Statistics  of  Rural  Life,"  chapter  i  in 
"  Rural  Hygiene." 

Plunkett,  Sir  H.,  chapter  7  in  "The  Rural  Life  Problem  of 
the  United  States." 

Roosevelt,  T.,  "  Rural  Life,"  in  "  The  Outlook  "  for  Aug.  27, 
1910. 

True,  A.  C,  "The  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture,"  pp.  100-109 
in   "Country   Life." 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "The  College  of  Agriculture  and  the  State," 
pp.  219-263  in  "  The  Training  of  Farmers." 

Powell,  E.  P.,  "  How  to  Live  in  the  Country." 

Washington,  B.  T.,  "  How  Denmark  Has  Taught  Itself  Pros- 
perity and  Happiness,"  in  "The  World's  Work"  for 
June,  191 1. 

III.    The  New  Rural  Civilization 

Factors  That  are  Making  a  New  World  in  the  Country 
Kern,  O.  J.,  "  The  New  Country  Life,"  chapter  i  in  "  Among 

Country    Schools," 
Roads,    Charles,    "  A   Great    Future   for   Country   Districts," 

chapter  7,  in  "  Rural  Christendom," 


APPENDIX  271 

Anderson,  W.  L.,  "New  Factors,"  chapter  13  in  "The  Coun- 
try Town." 

Carver,  T.  N.,  "The  Factors  of  Agricultural  Production," 
chapter  3  in  "  Principles  of  Rural  Economics,"  (also  im- 
portant paragraphs  in  chapter  2). 

Langford,  W.,  "  What  the  Motor  Vehicle  is  Doing  for  the 
Farmer,"  in  "  Scientific  American,"  for  Jan.  15,  1910. 

Van  Norman,  H.  E.,  "  Rural  Conveniences,"  pp.  163-7  in 
Mar.  1912  issue  of  the  "  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Political  and  Social  Science." 

Dixon,  S.  G.,  "  The  Rural  Home,"  pp.  168-174  in  same. 

Parker,  Harold,  "The  Good  Roads  Movement,"  pp.  51-7  in 
same. 

Hamilton,  John,  "  Influence  Exerted  by  Agricultural  Fairs," 
pp.  200-10  in  same. 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "  Cyclopedia  of  American  Agriculture,"  many 
fine  articles  in  Volume  IV  on  social  conditions. 

IV.    Triumphs  of  Scientific  Agriculture 

The  Oldest  of  the  Arts  Becomes  a  New  Profession 

Carver,  T.  N.,  "  Historical  Sketch  of  Modern  Agriculture," 
chapter  2  in  "  Principles  of  Rural  Economics." 

Carver,  T.  N.,  "The  Factors  of  Agricultural  Production," 
chapter  3  in  the  same. 

Butterfield,  K.  L.,  "  The  New  Farmer,"  chapter  4  in  "  Chap- 
ters in  Rural  Progress." 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "The  Agricultural  Shift,"  chapter  i  in  "  Tha 
State  and  the  Farmer." 

Davenport,  Eugene,  "Scientific  Farming,"  pp.  45-50  in  "An- 
nals of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science,"  March,  1912. 

Hays,  W.  M.,  "  Farm  Development,"  especially  "  Irrigation," 
chapter  10. 

Moorehead,  F.  G.,  "Efficiency  on  the  Farm,"  in  Technical 
World,"  Aug.,  1911. 

Plunkett,  Sir  Horace,  chapter  6  in  "  The  Rural  Life  Problena 
of  the  United  States." 


272  THE   CHALLENGE  OF  THE   COUNTRY 

V.    Rural  Opportunities  for  Social  Reconstruc- 
tion 

Country  Life  Deficiencies,  and  the  New  Cooperation 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "  Community  Life  in  the  Open  Country,"  pp. 

97-133  in  "  The  Country  Life  Movement." 
Bailey,  L.  H.,  "Redirecting  of  Rural  Institutions,"  pp.   m- 

135  in  "  The  State  and  the  Farmer." 
Carver,  T.  N.,  "  Principles  of  Rural  Economics,"  chapter  6 

on  "  Problems  of  Rural  Social  Life,"  and  part  of  chapter 

4. 

Wilson,  W.  H.,  "Rural  Decay  and  Repair"  and  "Coopera- 
tion and  Federation,"  also  "  Rural  Morality  and  Recrea- 
tion," chapters  i,  4  and  5  in  "The  Church  in  the  Open 
Country." 

Butterfield,  K.  L.,  "Federation  for  Rural  Progress,"  chapter 
17  in  "  Chapters  in  Rural  Progress,"  also  chapter  10  in 
same,  on  "  The  Grange." 

Eyerly,  E.  R.,  "  Cooperative  Movements  Among  Farmers," 
pp.  58-68,  in  March  1912  issue  of  "  The  Annals  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science." 

Scudder,  M.  T.,  "  Rural  Recreation  a  Socializing  Factor,"  pp. 
175-190  in  the  same. 

Johnson,  G.  E.,  "  Education  by  Plays  and  Games,"  especially 
chapters  i  and  2. 

Stern,  R.  B.,  "  Neighborhood  Entertainments." 

Bancroft,  "  Games  for  the  Playground,  Home,  School  and 
Gymnasium." 

Heatherington,  C.  W.,  "  Play  for  the  Country  Boy,"  in  "  Rural 
Manhood"  for  May,  191 1. 

VI.    Education  for  Country  Life 

How  Efficient  Rural  Citizenship  is  Developed 
Foght,  H.  W.,  "The  American  Rural  School,"  entire;  espe- 
cially  chapter   15   on   "Consolidation  of   Schools." 
Kern,  O.  J.,  "The  Rights  of  the  Country  Child,"  chapter  2 
in  "Among  Country  Schools." 


APPENDIX  273 

Butterfield,  K.  L.,  "The  Rural  School  and  the  Community," 
chapter  9  in  "  Chapters  in  Rural  Progress." 

Zellar,  J.  W.,  "  Education  in  the  Country  for  the  Country," 
in  the  1910  Report  of  the  National  Education  Associa- 
tion. 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "  The  School  of  the  Future,"  chapter  3  in  "  The 
Outlook  to  Nature";  also  "The  Nature  Study  Idea." 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "  The  Developing  of  Applicable  Education,"  pp. 
135-172  in  "  The  State  and  the  Farmer." 

Wilson,  W.  H.,  "  Schools  for  Country  Life,"  chapter  3  in 
"  Church  in  the  Open  Country." 

Foght,  H.  W.,  "The  Library  and  Rural  Communities,"  chap- 
ter 13,  in  "The  American  Rural  School." 

Miller,  L.  K.,  "  Children's  Gardens." 

"  Rural  Manhood,"  rural  education  number,  Sept.,  1912. 

Gold,  G.  D.,  "  The  Psychology  of  the  Country  Boy,"  in  "  Rural 
Manhood"  for  April,  191 1,  and  April,  1912. 

VII.    Rural  Christian  Forces 
The  Community-Serving  Church  and  Its  Allies 

Anderson,  W.  L.,  "The  Preservation  of  the  Church"  and 
"The  Church  as  a  Social  Center,"  chapters  16  and  17 
in  "  The  Country  Town." 

Butterfield,  K.  L.,  "The  Task  of  the  Country  Church"  and 
"Difficulties  and  Suggestions,"  chapters  3  and  4  in  "The 
Country  Church  and  the  Rural  Problem." 

Fiske,  G.  W.,  "The  Function  of  the  Country  Church,"  chap- 
ter 5  in  "The  Rural  Church  and  Community  Better- 
ment." 

Wilson,  W.  H.,  "  Church  and  Community,"  chapter  2  in  "  The 
Church  in  the  Open  Country." 

Wells,  G.  F.,  "The  Rural  Church,"  pp.  131-9  in  March,  1912, 
"Annals  of  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science." 

Wells,  G.  F.,  "The  Country  Church  and  Social  Service,"  in 
Nov.  1910  issue  of  "The  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom." 

Roads,  Charles,  "Rural  Christendom." 

A^henhurst,  J.  O.,  "The  Day  of  the  Country  Church." 


274  THE  CHALLENGE  OP  THE  COUNTRY 

Beard,  A.  R,  "The  Story  of  John  Frederick  Oberlin." 
Tipple,  E.   S.,  **  Some  Famous  Country   Parishes." 
Roberts,  A.  E.  and  Israel,  Henry,  "The  Rural  Work  of  the 
Y.   M.   C.  A.,"   pp.   140-8   in  March,   1912,  "Annals  of 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science." 

VIII.    Country  Life  Leadership 

The  Challenge  to  College  Men  and  Women 

Butterfield,  K.  L.,  "The  Call  of  the  Country  Parish,"  chap- 
ter 5  in  "The  Country  Church  and  the  Rural  Problem." 

Foght,  H.  W.,  "The  Rural  School  Teacher,"  pp.  69-115  in 
"The  American  Rural  School." 

Educational  Review,  October  issue  1910,  on  "Ways  in  Which 
the  Higher  Institutions  May  Serve  Rural  Communities." 

Roberts,  A.  E.,  "Leadership,"  pp.  133-143  in  "The  Country 
Church  and  Rural  Welfare." 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  "Woman's  Contribution  to  the  Country  Life 
Movement,"  pp.  85-96  in  "The  Country  Life  Movement." 

Butterfield,  K.  L.,  "  Opportunities  for  Farm  Women,"  chap- 
ter II  in  "  Chapters  in  Rural  Progress." 

Woolley,  M.  E.,  "The  College  Woman  as  a  Home  Maker," 
article    in  "The  Ladies'  Home  Journal,"  Oct.  1,  1910. 

Bailey,  Butterfield,  et  al.,  "  Report  of  the  Country  Life  Com- 
mission." 

Israel,  Henry,  "The  Basis  of  Appeal  for  County  Work,"  in 
"  Rural  Manhood  "  for  January,  1912. 

Fiske,  G.  W.,  "  Religious  Teaching  in  the  Country,"  in  "  Rural 
Manhood"  for  March,  191 1. 

Pontius,  J.  W.,  "College  Men  and  Rural  Evangelism,"  in 
"Rural  Manhood"  for  February,  1912. 


INDEX 


INDEX 

Abandoned  farms  6 

Adelbert  College   227 

Agriculture,  scientific  95,  98-iog 

government  patronage  of 246-8 

triumphs  of  scientific  91-113 

teachmg  of  163,  241-8,  251 

U.  S.  Department  of g6-8 

Agricultural  colleges 37,  51,  167-9,  231,  246-8,  251 

professions,  opportunities  in    246-8 

societies    50 

Allies  of  the  country  church 203-220 

Anderson,  W.  L 11,  43,  174 

Animals  and  plants,  breeding  of 100-4 

Automobiles  in  the  country 72-4 

Bailey,  L.  H 22,  41,  42,  56 

Bible  study  in  the  country 206 

Birth  rate  and  rural  depletion 127 

Boardman,   J.    R 134 

Boston  University  Law  School 242 

Bowdoin  College    226 

Boys  and  girls  and  the  farm . .  .• 22 

Breeding,  achievements  in  scientific 100-4 

Burbank,  L 102 

Business  cooperatoin 122,   139-145 

Butterfield,  K.  L 117,  120,  218-9,  237 

California  Fruit  Growers*  Exchange    143 

Canada    10,  loi,  102,  157-8,  164,  253,  256 

Carver,  T.  N 76,  98,  122,  187,  263 

Cazenovia  church 214 

Challenge  to  college  men 227-49 

to  college  women 249-63 

to  faith    27 

of  the  difficult 45-7 

Christian  forces,   rural 173-223 

Church  in  the  country,  necessity  for 173-4 

opportunity  and  function  of 173-183 

elements  of  weakness 183-5 

factors  which  determine  its  efficiency 185-203 

types  of  success 213-19 

must  serve  Us  community 189-91 

277 


278  INDEX 

Church  efficiency   178 

equipment   200 

finances    198-200 

ideals,  old  and  new 176 

unity  and  federation 193-S 

City,  the xii,   46.  152-4,  230-1 

and  country   4,  18,  25,  46,  63-5 

and  its  boys    33,  37 

City  life  drawbacks 39 

Cities,  growth  of 4 

Clark,  F.  E 47 

College  graduates  in  the  country: 

men 227-249 

■women    249-264 

Colleges xiii 

agricultural    37,  51,  167-9,  231,  246-8 

relation  of  to  rural  problem 227 

neglect  of  rural  needs 228 

and   rural  leadership 227-264 

Columbia  University  Law  School 242,  243 

Comenius    165 

Commission  on  country  life,  the 51-56 

Community  building   248 

festivals    136 

Communities,  classification  of 2 

Conservation    109 

Consolidation  of  schools ^5^'^^ 

Cooperation  in  country  communities. 84,  130-148,  218-30,  248,  249 

in  rural  Denmark 144-5 

failures  in  121-5,  184 

Cornell  University  227 

agricultural  department 36,  38,  41,  245 

law   school    242 

Country  boy,   the xii,  20,  22-25,  42,  154,  234 

Country   Boy's    Creed 35 

Country  life   leadership 223-266 

movement    18,  48-63,  86-7,  iii,  233 

attractiveness    41.  86 

deficiencies   i  ^7-^30 

optimism 33-59 

Country,  privilege   of  living  in 39 

Country  church  evolution,  stages  in 175 

County  work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A 132,  167,  207-11 

County  secretar/s  opportunity: 

men    249-51 

women 261-3 

Curriculum  for  rural  high  school 163 


INDEX  279 

Davenport,  C.  B 16 

Deaconess  work   256 

Decadence,    rural 7 

stages  of  13 

Degeneracy,  in  city  and  country 12,  14-17 

Denmark,    cooperation   in 144 

Depletion,    rural 7,  11,  17 

District  nurse  association 252 

District  school   system 155 

Doctors,  need  of  country 241,  251-3 

Drudgery,   emancipation   from 74-82 

Dryden,    John    loi 

Dry  farming  possibilities 107-8 

Economics,    household    234 

and  country  church  187 

Education  for  country  life 151-170 

rural    20,  82-3,  151-68,  231-4,  250 

Educators,  the  call  for  rural 232-4 

women    250 

Efficiency,  urban  and  rural 91 

Electricity  on  the  farm 79-8i 

Evergreen  Sporting  Association 133 

Eyerly,  E.  K 142 

Farm  development  92-3 

life   45-7 

machinery,  evolution  of 75-8o 

Farmers'  Alliance   50,  121 

Farmers,  conservatism  of 93-4,  1 18 

needs   of    52 

difficulty   of    organizing 120 

political    ineffectiveness   of 121 

Farmers'   Institutes   167 

Farmers'  National  Congress 50 

Farmer's  wife,  neglect  of  the 257 

Foght,  H.   W 156,  160,  234 

Franklin,  B 49 

Fruit  growers,  cooperation  among 141 

Gardens,  rural  school 163-5 

Giddings    12,  18 

Girls   in  country. 20,  23,  24,  28,  261 

Government    cooperation    167 

Grange,  the 50,  137-8 

Grinnell  College   237 

Grover,  E.  0 35 

Gulick.   L.    H .V 128 


dSO  INDEX 

Hartt,  R.  L ..I2 

Harvard  Medical  School 239 

Hatch  Act,  the 96-7 

Hays,   W.   M 100 

Hill,  J.  J 109 

Hillsdale  College    227 

Homes,  remodeling  rural 259 

Household   economics 257 

H'utchins,  H.  L 13 

Illinois,   University   of 227 

agricultural  department 37-8 

Immigrants  and  cooperation 143 

Indiana  school  law  160 

Individualism,  rural  I17-120 

Interdenominational  commissions   194-5 

Irrigation     104-8 

Irvine,  Dean  242 

Irving,   W 43 

Isolation,   triumph  over 65-74 

Israel,  Henry 211 

Kansas,  University  of 226 

Kearn,  O.  J 161 

Law  faculties  quoted -244-5 

Lawyers,    country 244-6 

Librarian,  opportunity  of  the  village 256 

Libraries,  public   134,  166,  256 

Leadership,   city    xi,  i,  230 

country    120-1,  227-265,  231 

woman's,  in  the  country 249-64 

Literature,   rural    166-7,  264-75 

Machinery,   agricultural 74-81 

power    79 

Maclaren,  Ian 243 

Manikowski,  G 79-8i 

Mann,    Horace    ISS 

Mann.   A.   R 245 

Marietta  College  226 

Marshall  county  churches 125 

Masculine   church  leadership 201 

Massachusetts  Agricultural  College 37,  38,  168 

McElfresh,    F.,    207 

Means,  Dean    242 

Medical  faculties,  quoted 241-4 

rural  practice  .»,,,,  ,241-4 


INDEX  281 

Meyer,  Dean   .248 

Michigan  University  Law  School 242 

Minimum  wage  for  rural  ministers .198 

Ministry,  the  rural  196-9 

the  call  to  235-40 

the  modern  t3T)e  of 237 

women  in  the   253 

Missouri,  University  of,  agri.  dept 37,  199 

Morality  and  the  play  spirit 129 

Mormon   irrigation   work 106 

Nam's  Hollow  case 15 

Nature,   partnership  with   43 

Neighborhood   house    133,  257 

New  England    8,  9,  17 

New   rural   civilization,   the 117-145- 

Newspapers    72 

New  York  State  College  of  Agriculture 36,  45,  168,  245 

North  Carolina  Agricultural  College yj 

Nurses,  need  of,  in  country 252 

Oberlin  College  and  Seminary 230.  237,  254 

Oberlin.  J.  F 68,  188,  216-18 

Ohio  Medical  School   240 

Ohio  State  University .227 

Pacific  University   226 

Pastors,  few  resident  in  country 253 

Patrons  of  industry 50 

Pepin  County  Cooperative  Co 139 

Physicians,  call  for  country,  men 240-4 

women  251-3 

Physicians  and  Surgeons,  College  of 240 

Plainfield   church    214-5 

Play,  the  gospel  of 134,  233 

Playground   Association  of  America 135 

Plow,  evolution  of  the 77-9 

Plunkett,  Sir  H.  26,  144,  152 

Political  ineffectiveness  of  farmers 121 

Power  of  machinery  on  the  farm 79-8i 

Princeton   University    ...226 

Quaintance,  H.  W 74 

Railroads,  steam  and  electric 69 

Reading  courses  for  farmers'  wives 257 

Recreation  and  organized  play ^ ...... .> 128,  233-4 


282  INDEX 

Religious  cooperation,  lack  of 123 

plans  for  193-5 

Right  Relationship  League 141 

Roads,  C 70 

Roads,  country  13,  68-70 

Roberts,  A.   E 211 

Robertson,  J.  W 157 

Roosevelt.  T 40,  51-3.  135 

Rural  Manhood  135,  167 

Rural  problem,  the 2,  19,  1-32,  51-4 

losses    5.7.8.  11 

gains    5,  8 

degeneracy    12.  14-17 

contentment    35-36,  65 

sincerity  and  neighborliness  44 

self-respect    63-S 

individualism    1 17-120 

progress   54,  63,  86-7,  134,  i lo-i 

culture   centers    258 

agencies  for  betterment 56-8,  84-6 

postal  service  71 

opportunities  for  social  reconstruction 1 17-145 

morals   and   recreation 125 

Rural  progress  associations 133 

Saunders,  W 102 

School,  rural  problems  of  the , 156-8 

inferior  equipment  and  support 154 

building   ..: •. 1567.  161-2 

centralization    157-61 

a  social  center  137 

School   improvetnent  leagues 165 

School  teachers,  men 231-3.  250 

women 250 

Scientific  agriculture   91-1 17 

Scudder,  M.  T 136.  230 

Secretary,  County  Work 249-59,  263 

Sectarian    divisions    192,  193.  196 

Smythe,   W.    E 105 

Social   reconstruction 117-145 

Social  consciousness,  the  new  rural 83 

Social  life,  lack  of 125-7 

plans   for   134-7 

Socialization,   community    130-2,  189 

initiative  in   132 

plan   for    I33 

South,  country  life  in  the. 64,  204 


INDEX  283 

Stone,  H.  F. 243 

Strong,  Josiah  13,  17,  229 

Student  recruits  for  the  ministry 237 

Student  volunteer  bands 237 

Stanford   University    226 

Sunday-schools,  rural   203-7 

Surveys,   community 202 

Swaney  School,  the 161-3 

Teachers  in  country  schools 152-4,  232-4,  250 

Telephones,  rural   66-8 

Text-books    152-3 

Theological  study  for  women 255 

Trolleys,  rural  70 

United  Christian  forces 191 

Unsocial  streak,  rural 118-9 

Urbanizing  of  rural  life 20,  152-4 

Washington,  George  49 

Washington  State  College  of  Agriculture 244 

Whitman  College   226 

Williams  College   226 

Wilson,   W.   H..... 14,  128,  163,  198,  202,  253 

Woman's  opportunity  in  rural  leadership 249-263 

responsibility  in  rural  education 250 

Women,  nurses  and  physicians 251 

in  the  service  of  the  church 253-5 

college  graduates   254-^ 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associations.  .132, 167, 207-211, 248-251 
Young  Women's  Christian  Associations 212,  261-3 


tl4  2 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  helow 


OCT  e  ^93?^ 


^m 


•MA  13 1940 


.  ^91940 


171M0 
APR  24)940 


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DEC   4  IMO 


DEC  4   1961 


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SEP  151969- 


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A     000  473  304     4 


